Threshold of Strife
by Kazen
Summary: A tank commander stationed on Katina witnesses the beginnings of the conflict set in Star Fox 64. Meanwhile, a new commander in the Venomian army witnesses these events from other side of the front line. Eventually, the two will face one another... UPDATE
1. Chapter 1: Innocence

Disclaminer: The StarFox universe, Emperor Andross, Bill Grey, Fay Dawn, and many of the technologies used/described here are © Nintendo

Kazen Dornel, Gerard Hartford, Secillia Merrix, Alen Geale, Jelira Fovoham, General Redric and other custom made characters are property of Eric Luck I would be flattered if one were to use them in an art/writing piece, but I would appreciate notification beforehand. Thank you.

Due to somewhat disturbing content, this chapter is rated PG

Author's Note: In the game Starfox 64, one was capable of single-handedly obliterating entire fleets. For creative purposes, the weapons such as the Arwing and Landmaster have been severely reduced to a far more realistic level.

Because being able to rack up in excess of 200 kills in one mission makes for a good video game, but not a good novel.

A big thanks goes to various music soundtracks for providing ideas and inspiration for this piece, especially Skies of Arcadia. I may compile a list of tunes that go with different scenes someday. Thanks also goes to my friends who supported and provided feedback while this was in the works, and to the numerous StarFox fanfic writers already out there for also providing inspiration.

This story is only to be distributed under my permission only. Questions/comments/complaints? Hurl them to me at

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The Threshold of Strife

Chapter One - Innocence

By Eric Luck

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"We knew it was coming, all of us. But where, and when were the questions." - Lieutenant Kazen Dornel

Darkness permeated the room. Yet, amidst the blackness, shafts of dull, seemingly unnaturally yellowish light

pierced from otherwise unseen windows, illuminating the darkness. What few chairs could be seen in the scant light were strewn about the room in disarray. Amidst them were round, ceramic tables painted a dim blue, many having various food items lying about their surfaces in various states of consumption. The floor was flat and solid beneath the feet as they took cautious steps forward, the owner gazing about the empty scene. On the other side of the room was a long series of tables with glass panels sitting in front of them, their transparency providing view of what lay on the other side. Trays. Bins containing various food products in different amounts and levels of...decay. Yet, despite this no smell was present.

The cooking ware equipment was impossible to make out with the level of darkness in the room, but was probably in a state of disrepair/disuse.

"...An army cafeteria...but...what happened?" came the fleeting whisper of a thought.

The empty tables, chairs and upon clearer view, debris of ceiling paneling and infrastructure that littered parts of the room, gave only a silent witness. Perhaps the most disturbing of all, was the complete and total lack of sound. The nose told of a complete...nonexistence as well. Pieces of debris were pushed aside with a boot, but once more none of the predicted clanking of metal was heard.

"Where am I...? What is the meani-" more thoughts whispered through, until they were cut off.

A quick drop of red had flashed down and splattered upon the slender muzzle before him. Immediately ceasing all movement, a slightly nervous but ever curious hand reached up and touched the droplet, only to find more beginning to drip from the ceiling, spattering the furred hand with the mystery "

Morbid curiosity began to rise further, prompting him to very slowly tilt his head up towards the source...and saw.

A pair of icy, glazed eyes returned his gaze with an unblinking stare. Matted fur drooped about it's face, but the darkness prevented a comprehensive judgment of any specific detail about the unfortunate individual. Half of the form was embedded into the ceiling, the body and limbs themselves twisted and dislocated into a posture that no living thing could naturally take on. One arm however, dangled free, as though...reaching out to him, from which the now cool, vital fluid flowed.

"AAAAH!"

Almost impulsively, Kazen Dornel shot up from his previously peaceful sleep upright, tightly clenching the edges of the sheets, frantically scanning the dark room in a panic. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage, as though demanding to burst out and flee. Heavily panting, he came to the quick realization that there was indeed, no bloody corpse hanging above him.

"Just...a dream...a dream..." he quietly told himself, holding a furred hand to the side of his face.

The room around him was pitch black, save a trio of digits to the right of where he slept, which glowed '5:38' in a dark red color. The bed itself was uncomfortably warm from the stress of the nightmare.

"Rg...too early to report for duty, but too late to try to get any more sleep...I'd best get started anyway." he thought to himself, sleepily sliding his legs to the right side of his bed, taking his still half asleep form along with them.

Shoving the layers of comfortable fabric aside, he slowly got to his feet, using the nearby wall for support. He then noticed a number of tangles in the fur on his tail, adding to the discomfort, but that would need to wait until he had proper lighting. Running his hands along the wall for guidance, his fingers eventually found the series of broad switches and a wheel. Slowly turning the wheel, the room was gradually bathed in a gentle light from the ceiling light fixtures that thankfully didn't bother his eyes as much as a sudden flash of light would have. His quarters were basic, consisting of a bed covered in a dark blue blanket, a dresser upon which sat the digital clock, a shelf witholding a vast library of data disks, and desk. Upon the desk sat an elegantly sloping portable computer. It's surface consisted primarily of the keyboard and a small projector on the far end, from which the holographic display was generated. Beside the computer stood a tall cylindrical fiber optic lamp, the bottom mount was so smoothly sculpted of plastic, if it were the same color as the table it would very well look like an extension of the surface. The currently unpowered, grayish white cords were bundled to fit the tube shape, a battleship grey colored, downward slanted covering adorned the top. The sight of the laptop reminded him of some administrative information he still had yet to sort and send to his commanding officer, something he cursed himself for forgetting about the previous night...But first thing's first. Returning to his dresser and after sifting through various articles of clothing, he pulled out a pair of dark green bundles of clothing, their actual design as yet indistinguishable. Shuffling on his way, a pair of doors sat on the far corner of the room. Opening the nearest one, he stepped inside yet another dark room, which was quickly alleviated by another, deft flick of a nearby switch.

Inside was the bathroom, populated by the bare necessities, but lacking in eloquence, something that didn't at all bother Kazen. While all these accommodations were inferior to those back home, this was a military facility, so one had to get used to being without 'fancy' living as some of the more hard core individuals in his barracks referred to it. Plopping the set of clothing atop the sink counter, he studied himself in the mirror.

On the temperglass surface gazed back a lethargic canine face, adorned by a straight chocolate brown hair that hung just beyond cheek level, a few strands finding their way in front of his eyes and over his muzzle in his state of disarray. He was simply garbed in a white tank top and shorts, although parts of them were concealed by his flowing fur coat spilling over the hems. The coat itself was tri-colored, a tawny brown about his face, which was sectioned off by a hazel coloration, and interrupted again by a section of pure white just around his collarbone. All this betrayed his specific breed of Collie, and despite the fact he had a good portion of his coat trimmed, he'd sometimes find himself at odds with his fur, it getting bunched up under his clothes. Snatching up a comb that sat upon the soap bar indentation beside the sink, he quickly did a makeshift grooming session, straightening his hair and untangling the snarls in his tail with a tired mumble of slight frustration, drawing the majestic extremity into the light.

Content with the job, he held up the clothing he'd selected before him, taking first the top. It unfolded before him, revealing his Class A uniform, with the symbol for the Katina Defense Force's 15th Armored Division embroidered on the right collar. The right breast bore a nametag labeled 'Dornel' above a number of small, differently colored buttons that indicated his rank. The uniform itself was split in front; one half of the front was flat and folded beneath the right, which consisted of a number of smaller 'flaps' which held attachment buttons individually. Kazen smiled to himself, remembering the day he'd first received this after graduating from the Katina Military's Officer Academy. It had been one of the shining moments in his life so far, and despite it's sometimes tugging on his fur, he wore the colors with pride and servitude.

"Another dull day...oh well." Kazen mused to himself, starting to slide his arms through the pressed fabric sleeves.

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Deep within the long, stretching hallway of an ornately decorated Throne room, lined with light fixtures and large blood red banners bearing the Venomian Imperial signet draped along the ceiling, sat a glorious seat. Fashioned of stone and laced with gold and thick red cushioning, the arm rests sculpted into eagle talons on the end, the impressive throne was certainly a sight. But even more so was it's occupant. Upon it sat an aging ape, his years paid testament by stringy white hair about his face, and the collar length, shaggy beard, which draped over his clenched hands, supporting his wrinkled head. Garbed in red robes covering his slightly hunched form, the graying primate seemed a stark contrast to his surroundings. Emperor Andross gazed into space contemplatively, a wicked grin playing his lips.

"Soon..those fools shall know the meaning of fear! They'll pay...all of them! Mad they called me...insane, even...But...in little more than a year...I'll have Corneria in my hands, and Pepper groveling at my feet! I'll make them all plead for forgiveness just I bur-" Andross' crazed monologue was suddenly interrupted by a holographic image popping up from a projector on the left armrest.

Loosing a few low curses beneath his breath, he opened his half of the channel, expecting a report as it was. Eventually an image of the upper torso of an opossum femme materialized before him. Bearing a pale, white furred face and bits of dark fur gracing the fringes of her hairline. She had flowing black hair that draped over her blood red Venomian uniform, a pair of black buttons on her collar, and a focused, attentive demeanor.

"Major Jelira Fovoham reporting, your Imperial Majesty." she said, snapping to a salute.

"What is the meaning of this, major...?" Andross replied with a grumble in his voice.

"Well sir, General Redric is busy with his duties...he sent me in his stead to report that preparations for Operation Hydra are complete and await further orders." the major reported, unfazed by the slightly unruly Emperor.

"Ah, good..." Andross replied, for once a pleased smile appearing on his face. "Tell him permission to begin as planned is granted. I would also like a report on the status of defense outposts 23 through 30 from him. Oh, and remind your General that I would prefer he speak with me instead of sending his lackeys to do his dirty work." Andross commented at the end.

Restraining a look of distaste, Jelira simply bowed, and Andross closed the channel, dissipating the digital image.

As soon as the holographic channel shut off along with the face of Andross that was not unlike a rotting raisin, Jelira let out a deep breath she had held the entire conversation.

"...I wonder sometimes..." she muttered to herself, relaxing from that very tense moment.

It was always a momentous, proud moment for anyone in the Venomian Empire to speak with Emperor Andross, and not many were able to do so and be listened to. Some considered it a privilege.

Taking a seat on the single seat in the comm. center, taking a moment to cool off her tension before relaying the information.

"..sending his lackeys to do his dirty work...bah." she muttered to herself, mocking the ape's voice with irritation of her own.

Settling in the black slick armchair, the discontented opossum rested her muzzle upon her right hand, supporting her arm on that of the chair, gazing out the observation window across from her bed. The pane itself afforded a generous view of the scenery outside of the IVS (Imperial Venomian Ship) Mantis, which at the moment was largely taken up by the massive, grey and white luminescent orb that was Macbeth. One could make out the lines and shapes that formed continents, which due to industrialization had become a massive, urban sprawl in places. Scattered about, however, were large portions of unconquered land, set aside for basic environmental necessities. The possession of the planet by Venomian forces was a key element in their fueling of the war machine, the fruits of which were orbiting around the planet, like an impatient predator awaiting the proper moment to stalk it's prey...All varieties of warships drifted about, from the lighter, blockier hulks of the Harlock cruisers to the elegant shapes of the Zeram dreadnaughts, whose silhouettes bore a resemblance to naval vessels of old. The small, arrow-head shapes of Invader II's cruised in triangular formations about their parent ships like insects vigilantly guarding their home nest. Every time Jelira looked upon this show of military might, she couldn't help but feel a warm pulse of pride in her breast. But this was soon dissipated when the figure behind all of this returned to her mind, which forced her to turn away from the thick, transparent aluminum window.

"I didn't sign onto your army just because you declared my home on Macbeth your territory..." she continued to muse, thinking back to earlier, more enthusiastic days. "It's about time this operation is taking place.. Sitting around for months on end just collecting numbers isn't much of a 'glorious fight against oppression'. Hopefully I'll get a promotion after we win Katina for that overgrown chimp, so I'm not stuck doing all this bloody grunt work, and actually do something."

Resting her muzzle in her right hand in frustrated thought, she continued to ponder the past, feeling a twinge of nostalgia.

Just as Jelira was about to replay in her mind what brought her to this post, she forcibly brought herself to her feet to finish her task. Recalibrating her HoloVid, she redirected the channel from Andross' otherwise encoded channel with a bit of satisfaction, to her commander's. Taking a deep breath and making last minute checks on her uniform, and engaged it.

Shortly the image of a middle aged peregrine falcon garbed in a uniform similar to her own, but bore a trio of medals and a number of stars above his nametag, bearing the name Redric. At the moment he was bent over a console, busily working on some unseen task. Shortly after the transmission began he noticed Jelira's image beside his desk.

"Ah, good to see you major. Any word from the Emperor?" the General asked calmly, turning his attention to her.

At least somebody up there hasn't lost touch with those that are actually the reason they're where they are...

"Yes sir, Hydra is go."

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The scene of the officer's lounge was surprisingly faintly active, with a couple individuals already present in the room. A couple other officers, and a number of troops, an ocelot and iguana standing vigilant guard beside the door, greeting Kazen on his way inside. Both garbed in heavy armor and bearing weapons. The lounge itself was a spacious hexagonal chamber that extruded from Aldebaran base like a watchtower, providing a spectacular view of the natural scenery of Katina, further beyond the grounds. The base itself was some distance from the nearest city, being meant to deploy outer patrols. Steep mountains and valleys covered by grasses and shrubs here and there were commonplace, complimenting the auburn colored sky. Closer by was an intricate system of roads and garages in one large complex, dotted with observation towers and radar domes. The Lylatian sun had yet to emerge from the sky, although the horizon glowed with a reddish orange haze where it would soon present itself.

The lounge itself consisted of a variety of fluidly shaped tables and chairs, couches nearby the windows, and a variety of concession dispensaries, including a coffee brewer.

Approaching one of the tables, he came upon a lemur fellow sitting beside a table next to one of the ceiling height windows. Dressed in an identical uniform, of average bodily stature and short black hair matching the varied markings about his coat, he tiredly rested his face in his hands, and his long black and white banded tail lazily swept the floor below him. He gazed out at the scenery until the sounds of Kazen's footsteps approached.

"Morning, Kaze." he greeted, after turning his head to recognize his comrade, his words slightly distorted by a still half awake yawn.

"Fancy seeing you up, Hartford. Couldn't sleep either?" Kazen replied with a smirk, taking a seat next to his comrade.

"..you can kick the formal tone, Gerard is fine.." the drowsy lemur replied. "Well, we are on alert after all...Remember there's a war on...who knows what'll happen and when, or where for that matter. I half expect to see that mad ape Andross' gnarled fingers creeping across the sky."

"Ah, right...heh...maybe that's where that came from.. " Kazen murmured, thinking to himself what to grab for a quick breakfast.

"...? What do you mean?" Gerard asked curiously, raising an eyebrow amidst a section of black fur about his left eye that offset the white that comprised the rest of his face.

"..Oh, I had this really...odd nightmare. I guess I'm just paranoid, is all." Kazen explained, resting the heel of his right hand on his forehead, leaning over the hard plastic table.

"I see..." came the simple reply.

"I'll be right back...I need caffeine." Kazen told his friend, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet.

"Heh...I bet."

After meandering past other conversing patrons of the room, Kazen stood before the brewer, that had a holographic display listing a wide variety of bean flavors, creamers, concentration for different levels of 'strength' for a drink made precisely to one's taste. Bringing up a claw tip to the screen, he simply opted for plain, black coffee. Immediately, a styrofoam cup plopped down into view, followed by a low rumbling with the grinding process. After a minute or so, the tall cup was quickly full of steaming black fluid, which Kazen cautiously took in paw, and returned to his table.

"Ever since you stayed up all night cramming for finals back home, you've been addicted to that stuff." Gerard pointed out with a slightly furrowed brow. "It's good now and again but I don't run on it."

Kazen simply shrugged in reply, gently blowing on the surface, letting the steam waft up into his nostrils.

A moment of silence separated the two for a moment, and then the lemur looked back outside, and sneaking a quick glance at his wristwatch.

"We have patrol duty in a half hour, we'll have to report down there in ten...you know how those guys are sticklers for punctuality." Gerard explained, looking at Kazen in the corner of his eye, who was just taking a sip of his hot drink.

"Right, right." Kazen replied, swallowing a muzzleful of his coffee.

Just then, the sound of aircraft engines roaring overhead was heard, and everyone present automatically shifted their attention to the sky beyond the transparent aluminum windows. Just then, two groups of three 'Greenie' jet fighters cruised by, passing in front of the mountainside before banking around and back overhead.

"Well, it looks like someone's already out and about. Those air force boys sure don't slack off." Kazen commented after the small air show. With that, he took another gulp of the drink, enjoying the hot sensation it brought to his stomach.

"Well, I'm heading out to report..." Gerard stated, starting to get up, beckoning for Kazen to follow.

"I'm coming, don't worry..." Kazen replied with a hint of haste in his voice, draining the last dribbles of his drink, standing up and pushing the chair back as well. With that, the two of them departed the lounge, Kazen crumpling his now useless cup in his paw and discarding it in a recycle bin.

"All military patrol personnel, report to your respective sectors for debriefing, I repeat...All military patrol personnel, report to your respective sectors for debriefing" a patient feminine voice announced over the facility-wide PA.

The front doors of the briefing room swung open, unveiling both Kazen and Gerard, quickly making their way into the room, which as yet was just receiving other members of the 15th Armored division. The duo quickly took their seats at desks near the front row, nearby other members of their immediate operating squad.

Much of Kazen's view of the row was blocked out by the occupant seated beside him on his left. A black-tipped, curved, triangular fin stood out from the base of the neck and the head, over a foot long, was roughly the shape of a bullet. The bluish gray skin appeared to be smooth and lithe, but a closer look would reveal its rough, sandpaper-like texture. Thin, wavy lines of darkened color ran from the tip of the snout to down the back of the neck. One of the figure's eyes, set near the center of the sleek, elegant head, reflected Kazen's furred face within its empty, white void. The almost surreal design of the figures limbs, striking a close resemblance to the aquatic predators he had feared in his youth demanded the focus of his, and all other eyes in the room.

"Good morning, Kazen." a soft, yet confident sounding female voice greeted simply. The owner's gaze didn't shift from the object of her attention, seemingly already fully aware of their presence.

"Ah, good to see you, Secillia." Kazen replied pleasantly, turning to face his communications officer after sitting down..

"Yes, but I could smell you coming before you even saw the doors. So, it's good to...smell you, then? I'll tell you though, you're a field of lilacs compared to some of the other people around here." she joked, and Kazen could see her eye turning towards him beneath the milky covering that obscured their actual coloration.

Kazen quietly chuckled to himself upon her remark, having been used to similar comments about senses from the shark.

"Bright enough for you?" Kazen shot back, settling in his seat while Gerard listened on, waiting for the Sergeant to arrive and repeat the daily processes, whatever it may be.

".....shut up. How you people can stand such...eye searing light is beyond me." she replied with a hint of irritation.

With that, the white covering over her eyes slid back revealing her light bluish eyes which clenched shut shortly after the white membrane removed itself.

"Agh! I told you.. Is the sergeant blind or something? The light in here is more intense than Solar's." she complained, grasping the front of her face a moment then shaking her head about, the coverings sliding back into place.

Kazen shrugged, setting his console down on the desk before him and waiting patiently. Secillia returned to the task on the panel, whatever it may be.

While the trio waited for the rest of their squad to show up, Gerard curiously looked about his surroundings, eventually catching eye of Secillia's 'Deck' laptop display. Leaning in front of Kazen to get a better look at what she was doing.

"What're you looking at, Secillia?" he asked innocently.

"Oh, this? A current map of the situation in the system...Venom held space, and where defensive outposts have been reported to be from our spies. Here and here there's supposedly formations of capitol ship groups." the shark explained, pointing to two different spots on the screen. Upon closer inspection, however, all that Gerard saw was a swirl of colors and isometric shapes...

"...? What...is that? It looks like all a blur of colors to me...like one of those tie dye shirts." the befuddled lemur inquired, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Initially Secillia wasn't sure what he was getting at, and then a realization dawned on her.

"Oh, that's right.. My kind picks up electrical signals better than we can see...so it's really just electrical pulses laced with information that I can read." she explained, turning to face her inquisitive team mate as she spoke.

"I see, complex, but impressive.." Gerard replied in slight awe.

"Yes, I know." Secillia chuckled, inadvertently baring a couple teeth in the process, slightly alarming him.

With that, the spooked lemur settled back into his seat.

As the trio patiently waited, the room began to gradually fill up with other personnel, who brought their gabbing with them. Personal agendas were explained, idle banter was exchanged, and various accomplishments were exemplified in a chaotic jumble of conversation.

Kazen rested his head upon his right palm, partially concealing his eye. Breathing a tired sigh, he did his best to push the distracting chaos from his mind. Eventually, much to his relief, the door on the far end of the meeting room swung open, revealing a tall, middle aged hyena, garbed in a uniform not unlike his own but bearing a trio of chevron shapes on his shoulder and a red beret sat upon his head, giving away his rank of captain. Short strands of black hair emerged from the fringes of his cap, complimenting the spots that began to appear at the base of his neck just above his collar. With a calm, authoritative air, he stepped before the now calming crowd, standing before a podium, a large screen display behind him that was powered down at the moment.

He was just about to give his superior his undivided attention, until Kazen noticed a discrepancy. The seat between him and Secillia was empty. Again.

"...I don't know what I'm going to do about him. He's lucky he can get a Landmaster from point a to b faster than most drivers...otherwise Captain Pendegrass here wouldn't have put up with him.." he thought to himself, doing his best to keep a stern attentive face on.

With that, the captain cleared his throat, preparing to speak.

"Alright, are all you blokes present and accounted for?" he asked with an obvious accent, scanning the room with his commanding gaze.

Just then, a faint creak of the double doors opening was heard, which grabbed the attention of all in the room, including the captain.

Between the crack of the doors poked a small, two toned muzzle of a dark brown color along the top, and a lighter shade along the sides and bottom, topped off by a diminutive, black nose. Eventually the rest of the face emerged, from which a pair of nervous brown eyes skimmed the area nervously, as though in fear of something. His head was graced with well kept blonde hair that fell just below his eyes in an even, long 'bowl' cut. The shape of his skull and coloration betrayed his species of ground squirrel, and was just about as timid.

"There he is...not quite so late this time." Kazen mused to himself, recognizing the face.

Slowly stepping through the doors and letting the nearest one shut as quietly as possible, the figure suddenly realized that all eyes were upon him. Eventually they looked away, except for the Captain before him.

"Well, Ensign Geale. To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" said the hyena officer, arms folded, a curious

look about his face.

"I er..um.." the nervous squirrel managed, stopping in his tracks from fear.

"Iurum? Never heard of that. What is that, anyway?" the Captain asked, his demeanor not shifting in the least.

Geale's right hand crept up the side of his head, scratching the fringes of his hairline in embarrassment.

"Have a seat, Ensign. At least this time you didn't miss anything important..." the Captain sighed, motioning towards his seat next to Kazen.

After a moment of hesitation, the timid fellow scurried to his seat, his arms curling into a very reserved posture.

"And lieutenant Dornel, I would advise you to help absolve this punctuality problem, so as to prevent further delays. Am I clear?" Captain Pendegrass stated, giving Kazen a concerned gaze.

"Absolutely, sir." Kazen replied with a dutiful nod.

"Now then." The Captain continued, placing his hands calmly on the podium and facing the rest of the assembly. With a push of a button on the podium, the map behind him came to life, depicting the topography of the local area of Katina, with a group of large blue squares with a bordered label reading 'Aldebaran Base' and a couple triangular shapes moving about the area in an arrowhead formation, with smaller, from this distance illegible lettering.

_Probably those Greenies I saw fly by earlier..._

"Today's duties will continue to consist of usual patrols of the perimeter. Vorren, your group will be responsible for sectors G-4 to H-9. Dornel, your squad will occupy I-5 to J-7." Pendegrass continued, pointing to the indicated areas with a clawed finger, first facing a tawny brown filly with similarly colored hair, who nodded in response, then Kazen.

"Dawn, Ferdinand, and the rest of you, you all will be flying air cover for them." he continued, facing up the row towards the upper right.

"No problem, sir!" came a cheery voice from that direction.

Turning his head to look, Kazen saw a younger, white furred poodle female, garbed in a white pilot's vest, with the pair of fastening shoulder straps in place, as though the wearer was anxious to be in the cockpit. Unlike other examples of her breed, her fur was not trimmed and puffed out in a ridiculous fashion, but allowed to flow naturally. The most notable feature of her, however, was the deep crimson bow adorned atop her head that gave her a blatantly effeminate look, yet complimented the rest of her coloration.

I wonder how she got THAT past regulations...

"Well, good to see enthusiasm on the job. Alright then, you all have your orders. Dismissed!" came the announcement, with a simple wave of the commanding officer's gloved hand.

With that, the entire room dissolved back into a chaos of intermittent discussions, and shuffling out of desks. Kazen himself laid back in his seat and stretched both arms out, loosing built up tension from the briefing session. Shortly, the group departed their desks and reconvened at the entrance of the Briefing room, evading the other personnel. Out of the corner of her eye, Secillia turned to the antsy ground squirrel and grinned, making sure to bare as many teeth as possible. Initially, he didn't react and the other two held their gloved paws over their mouths to conceal grins of mirth of the anticipated reaction.

Before long, the pearly whites could no longer evade his attention.

"AAAAHH!" came the startled exclamation. Almost immediately, the frightened squirrel leapt and clasped onto an unexpectant Kazen, who found both his arms clamped to his body.

"Uh...Alen..." he began. "Let...go. She's just messing with you, get a hold of yourself. And not me." Kazen continued with a sigh.

"Oh...er...s..sorry, sir..." the frightened fellow stammered, slowly letting go after realizing his position.

He still kept a nervous eye on Secillia's pearly whites, still plain for him to see. Eventually the humor of the joke began to fade and she resumed her normal posture, much to Alen's relief.

"Well, let's get moving, then." Gerard suggested, pushing open one of the doors.

Just as Kazen nodded in compliance and was about to depart with the group, an excited voice piped up.

"Hey, wait up you guys!"

All heads turned to the source of the voice, who came right up to Kazen. It was the white poodle girl again, her slightly curled ears trailing behind her. Coming to a quick stop, she clasped her gloved hands behind her back, looking enthusiastically from one member of the team to the next.

"Oh, hello there. Dawn, was it...?" Gerard asked with a friendly smile. She looked up towards him, her shorter stature betraying her youth.

"Oh, no. That's my last name." she explained, shaking her head. "You guys can call me Fay. I'll be your air cover for this mission..." she continued, settling down.

"Right, we just heard." Kazen reminded her in a patient voice.

"Oh, er..right. Sorry, I get a little scatterbrained when I'm excited. But don't worry, you can depend on me!" she proclaimed, beaming to him.

"Alright, nice to meet you Fay." I'm Dornel, Kazen Dornel. I'm the head of this little operation" Kazen explained with a touch of mirth at the end of his words.

"This is my friend, Gerard, the gunner." He continued, motioning towards the lemur, who nodded in acknowledgement.

"Alen, the driver. He's rather jumpy, but he comes through in the end."

Alen shyly waved to her, withdrawing a little.

"And here we have Secillia, she's the communications officer and your link between us. You'll hear from her in my place most often."

"Nice to meet you!" Fay greeted, extending a gloved paw up to the acquiescent shark.

"Charmed." Secillia replied, shaking her paw and smiling a bit, exposing a couple teeth. Fay seemed only more intrigued in her newfound compatriot.

"Wow...you're quite unusual! Don't see many of the aquatic sort around here..." Fay observed, still fixated on Secillia.

Secillia, confused by the unexpected attention, could only furrow her brow curiously in response. "Really? Ought to look around Katina City a bit more thoroughly.." she eventually replied.

"True...though, where are you from...? Aquas or Zoness..?"

"...Zoness." came the simple reply, the sharks mood dimming with the word.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I can't imagine something like that happening to my home. I'm sure we'll pry it from that monkey's fingers!" the bubbly poodle encouraged.

For once, a hint of a brightened smile curled the shark's lips.

"Pardon me, but we are on duty..." Kazen injected, standing before the opened door, keeping it open.

"Oh, right...sorry, sir. The hangar's on the way to the garage complex, so I'll go with you guys!" Fay added, stepping out the door.

"Oh, goody.." Gerard chuckled sarcastically under his breath.

Departing from the room and continuing down the way, the team passed through the maze of passageways, their destinations already well mapped in their memories. The hallways were populated with all kinds of people in various uniforms, going various directions to attend to agendas unknown. The halls themselves were constructed of layers of a mix of heavy steel and a ceramic compound, painted a soft white. Along the corners were the walls and ceiling met were long narrow glass covered light fixtures, currently off. The team kept together as they went, Fay continuing the conversation.

"So...what do you guys think?" Fay asked, looking up at the group from the right side.

"About...?" Kazen inquired, facing her direction.

"The mission."

"What about it...?" Secillia asked, confused by the topic.

"I mean, this is my first time working with a ground team, there's just so many new things going on, new people to meet, it's exhilarating!" Fay continued, the cheery smile on her face only outshone by the lylatian sun peering through the multitude of windows lining the walls. Even then, the blazing ball of plasma had competition.

Kazen looked upon her curiously with her statement, pondering this new information, a concerned look in his eye.

"Something wrong, sir...?" she asked, noting his expression.

"Oh, no...just thinking." he replied, slowly shaking his head.

"I see, alright."

-----------

The hallways within the IVS Mantis were quite different however. Painted a dull red with ovoid light fixtures directly along the ceiling, the interior was somewhat more functionally oriented. Activity was also much more precipitous, various commands/status reports being given over the shipwide intercom, it was the busiest Jelira had ever seen this vessel. Keeping her arms closely to her sides, the opossum hastily navigated the maze, noting the directional signs that pointed out locations of importance, such as the crew quarters, sickbay, etc. Although unprecedented administrative work with her superiors prevented her from taking her routine shower, she'd been summoned to the onboard planning room by Redric himself.

"Perhaps they have finally seen I'll be the deciding factor in this campaign...It's about time." she thought to herself with a satisfied smirk as she rounded the last necessary corner.

Before her stood a tall black door with the words 'Technical Briefing Room - Authorized Personnel Only' printed at eye level in white lettering, and a small keypad to the right of the door. Reciting the pass code number for this level of security in her mind, Jelira reached up and punched in the required numbers systematically, and upon a confirmed beep, the door lifted up a quarter inch, then with a whoosh of hydraulics slid to the right, revealing the room inside. After stepping through the doorway and hearing it shut and lock behind her, Jelira took in the scenery of the room. Immediately to her sides were a pair of armed guards standing attention, a featureless stare dominating the stout porcupine and more lithe raccoon's faces. They were garbed in sectioned green armor fitted to their respective body types, rifles at the ready. Jelira simply moved on, paying them no mind.

The Briefing room was a large square about 50 feet wide with numerous eye level interfaces lining the far wall across from the doorway where Jelira stood, each one with indiscernible displays and instruments. The middle of the room descended several feet, and in the center was a large holographic projector, generating a large representative image of the Lylat system, each individual planetoid making a slow orbit. The projector was surrounded by all manner of uniformed individuals, each standing attentively around the room, with the stately falcon form of General Redric standing beside it, waiting patiently. Jelira quickly stepped into an empty spot between a cougar sergeant, and a badger lieutenant, each unerringly fixated on their commander. After her presence was noted, the avian officer, graced each face around him with an analytical gaze.

"I trust everyone is present and accounted for?" he began. "Good. Now then. I am certain you all are aware of our impending assault, codenamed Operation Hydra. Emperor Andross has been impatiently awaiting a full display of our might to the Cornerians, and we now have the manpower to do this."

With that, the General punched a couple buttons on the holographic display with a clawed finger. A red square encompassed the image of Katina, blinked and zoomed in on the planet until it's image encompassed the entire display. Not far beyond it were a set of objects in all manner of shapes, some with cylinders attached perpendicular to one another, others vaguely resembled enlarged octagons, all standing between Katina and the projected location of Solar, as though standing guard.

"Here we have Katina defense stations KD 3 though 10, serving as frontline defense of Katina space. Now, the first stage of our assault will require us to break a sizeable hole through these defenses so that the Motherships can have safe passage through to make their landings. Marshal Allman, Fleet Admiral Devries, General Lonic, Commander Hargrave, you and your men are responsible for that task. Obviously, the quicker this can be accomplished the better. Perhaps striking from the side would be best, but I will leave the individual tactics up to you, I trust you to act wisely. If everything runs smoothly, I want you to continue covering our space forces in the event of an ambush. By that time, the resident air forces will have been mobilized and we will most likely have combat in the atmosphere. Admiral Wertil, Commandant Fasslon, your Carrier Motherships will be intermixed with the ground deployers, so as to make it difficult to prioritize targets. You'll be in charge of leading their fighter groups to act as air cover." The General ordered, facing each officer that he addressed as he spoke. "You will also be responsible for coordinating your individual commanders, but that is standard procedure as you are aware."

"Now, Major Fovoham, Corporal Nisune, Field Marshal Visner, and Lieutenant General Luche, you will be in charge of ground assault squads. Your task will be perhaps the most complicated." Redric began, pushing more buttons on the projector.

The image zoomed even closer into the planet, depicting the geography of the target world. The locations of cities, and supposed locations of various bases highlight in red, along with labels indicating either city name, or supposed purpose from air base, to refinery on it's surface. The entire map was placed onto a grid, the current quadrant of attention highlighted.

"Our spies have had some difficulty infiltrating Katina, and we have only supposed locations of key sites, which may or may not be there. Once we arrive, a preliminary scan of the surface to provide an update, if possible will be provided to everyone. Everyone on ground and air forces would do well to confirm the coordinates of these locations. Now...ground forces, your projected landing site will be...here." Redric continued, picking up a pointer stick and placing it not far from where the supposed location of a major air and ground deployment base was.

"We believe this may be an important hub of military activity and would greatly make light of our efforts planetside if it were to be overrun. I want Nisune and Luche's men to approach from the sides and draw their attention while Fovoham and Visner's forces make a beeline directly for the front door. Nisune and Luche will be stationed aboard Mothership VI-034, Fovoham and Visner on VI-042. You will encounter some patrols along the way, and potentially on-site defenses. The base will most likely be protected by a shield to prevent orbital bombardment. If at all possible, it would be highly recommended to find the source, and neutralize it. Then pull out from the area and give the Zeiram cruisers the go ahead. They'll take it from there." came the lengthy debriefing.

Redric was well known for giving detailed descriptions of his campaign ideas, which is sometimes lost on the less attentive officer. After pausing and looking about the room, he returned the projector to it's default state of displaying the system.

"Are there any questions? No? Good. We will be underway in 1 hour, report to your designated posts immediately. You will receive further instructions once we arrive. Dismissed."

With that, the attendees went to ease, and began filing out of the room. Jelira remained standing, however.

I'm glad they've elected me to take part in this, it took them long enough...Not that I'm complaining...quite excited, actually. But that must mean I'm capable for the task, and I'd best not fail it.

With a slow, relaxing breath, Jelira about faced, and followed her fellow officers out the door, her black boots echoing solitarily in the now empty room.

-------

At the same time, in the hallways of Aldebaran base, Fay and crew continued their trek through the facility, keeping faced forward amidst the crowd. The bustle in the corridors was now even greater as people made their way to their individual duties and assignments. Eventually the group came to a large crossroads, an open center of traffic with stairwells on either side. The whole intersection was large, about the size of a city block. The walls around it were comprised of almost sculpted steel and concrete walls painted a soft white, matching the rest of the building. The chamber was circular, with 4 equidistant, wide stairwells that followed the curved wall down. Arched hallways beneath each stairwell continued on their way. In the center of it was a map kiosk directing newcomers/visitors to the different sections. It all actually reminded her of a mall, oddly enough.

"Well, here's where I head off..." Fay began, stopping beside a railing and looking to her newfound comrades.

"Alright then, Fay. Nice talking with you." Kazen bid farewell, also stopping nearby her.

"We'll be seeing you out there, then, Fay. Good luck." Gerard added with a friendly smile to her.

"Oh, thank you! You too!" the merry poodle replied, and with a wave, turned about and began descending down the curved stairwell.

They're such nice people... Not like how some people feel like they have to repeat everything they tell me, like I wasn't paying attention...Hopefully Command will keep me with those guys.

The hangar's entryway was comprised of a multitude of entryways, for pilots, technicians and other personnel. After Fay passed through the intensive ID checkpoint, she found herself in a massive complex consisting of a tall spacious building of a single chamber. The entire place with filled with echoes of person to person chatter, along with the occasional powering up flight engine. The medium pitched roar of the fighter's engines coming to life, one disengaging from it's docking clamps, levitating up a couple feet. Then sped out one of the 3 arched entry/exit corridors, each as tall as the hangar's 4 stories. Sunlight was beginning to light the outside scenery, although it still retained a hint of twilight. The somewhat chilly air that filled the hangar told a very accurate testimony of that.

After drawing a long, drawn out breath of the air, Fay made her way down the walkway, looking over to the status panels that sat at the beginning of each boarding catwalk. Each one had a display of the designated pilot's name, serial number, followed by a complete diagnostic of the craft. Fay casually clasped her hands behind her back as she walked, skimming each panel for her name as she went.

Many of the jets were gone, having been taken out for auxiliary patrols, though a number still remained. Eventually Fay came to hers, and promptly walked along the catwalk, her fighter on the left side, waiting for her.

As Fay continued on her way, she gingerly placed her paw on the side of the hull, feeling the cold steel beneath her fingers. Yet she'd gotten a bit attached to the craft in her time using it since she was first permitted to fly one in her last year of the academy. Even now, she felt a slight compassion with the hardy craft. Eventually she came up to the cockpit, which had, raised above it, the protective transparisteel canopy that was divided into three sections, a flat frontal surface and two angular sides. It almost resembled a finely chiseled crystal. A single indentation was put in the side as a step for the pilot, identification numbers printed just above it.

However, much to her surprise, she wasn't the only one. On the right side was another pilot, conferring with a technician about something.

"..that'll do it. Thanks, I needed more leg room anyway." came part of the conversation. Ever inquisitive, Fay approached the two. It wasn't long before she recognized the form of the pilot, who had, judging by the voice, had her back to Fay.

"Hey, is that you, Saiuri...?" Fay asked, partly assuming the person's identity.

Upon hearing her name, the pilot turned to face her, and upon laying eyes upon her, her bemuzzled face grinned with pleasant recognition. It was a fairly tall and lanky saluki, garbed in a pilot suit not unlike Fay's. Fine black strands of hair blanketed the sides of her head, draping just to the level of her jaw, with a couple wisps draping to the bridge of her muzzle. Her matching ears emerged from beneath her hair and drooped a bit lower, starting to rest upon her shoulders. Their pendulous style closely resembled that of Fay's. Her forehead was graced with a black coloration that followed the curve of her temple and formed a small point between her eyes. The rest of her fur coat that was visible was a light tan color.

"Why, hello there Fay. Fancy meeting you here. How long has it been since the academy...?" she greeted, closing her left hand into a loose fist and resting it upon her hip.

"Years... So you've been stationed here too? Yay! " the exuberant poodle exclaimed, nearly bouncing with her proclamation.

The saluki only smirked in response. "You're always the one to make light of a situation. Even before going where our very lives are in danger you always have some manner of joyous air seconds before. In a way, I admire you for your naivety, Fay."

Fay held her palms up to her sides in an expounded shrug. "I guess that's just how I am...not gonna do much good moping about it, I say."

Saiuri slowly shook her head, with a slow sigh. "With this war on, that'll probably change..." she mumbled, mostly to herself.

"Hm..?" Fay asked, cocking her head to the side curiously. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Anyway, sorry Feldon. Thanks, I'll deal with the rest myself." Saiuri apologized to the lynx engineer, who nodded understandingly. With a small bow to both ladies, he turned about and dismissed himself, to look for anywhere else to make himself useful.

"So, what's your gig today, Fay?" Saiuri asked, pulling out her flight helmet from it's resting spot on the seat, starting to pull it onto her head.

"Oh, I'm attached to a ground division, flying as air cover for them. The leading squad has some really nice people in it.." Fay explained, doing the same as her counterpart, beginning to fasten the attaching strap beneath her muzzle.

"That's nice...oh my." Saiuri replied, suddenly turning her attention slightly above and behind Fay.

"...? What is it?" she asked, looking behind her, wondering what it was catching her friend's attention.

"That fighter over there. Take a look."

After turning about to see what she was talking about, Fay also noticed it. On the side of the fighter to Fay's left was painted an image of an attractive collie woman, whose form was stretched out diagonally. Both legs were closed together, crossed at the ankles, and one arm was laid casually just beside her head, as though resting on some soft surface. The other was gently clasped around the midst of her volumous tail, drawing it up and draping it across her belly. She was garbed in little more than a black two piece swimsuit, tie strings dangling from her rather broad hips. Thick, chocolate brown hair flowed down over her shoulders and spread across an unseen surface, and gazed out at the viewer with an almost drowsy, endearing expression.

Saiuri let out a small sigh. "I don't know sometimes...whether or not men use us as objects like that. And displaying it for everyone to see."

"Well...I guess they do it to get some...feeling of confidence or, I've heard it described as a 'lady luck' kinda thing." Fay attempted to explain with a shrug, studying the image.

"Oh, they get a feeling out of it, I'm sure." Saiuri replied with a laugh out loud, and Fay giggled along with her.

"Well...guys will be guys, I guess." Fay added.

"I guess you're right. Although, just between you and me, I wouldn't mind being up on one of those, but only if I really liked the guy who was flying. I personally would rather not have myself displayed on any old scrub's jalopy." Saiuri explained, finally turning her attention back to her counterpart.

"I wouldn't mind being in that position altogether, myself." Fay replied. "With everyone admiring you like that...I'd love it. And the fact they'd pick me out of all the other models they have to choose from.."

Saiuri shrugged and slowly shook her head. "If that's what suits you..."

"Especially because...I sure don't look anything like her. I mean, look at me, I'm short, I don't have half the cup size I imagine she does, I don't have quite the hourglass figure she does." Fay explained, taking a quick self examination.

"Well, of course that is a painting, who's to say that's how the model looked?" Saiuri suggested, keeping her knuckles on her hip.

"That's true. Though...nah, it's probably just my imagination." Fay continued, shaking her head slightly with the last statement.

"What?"

"She kinda reminds me of the leader of the ground squad I'm escorting, he was a Collie too, and had similar fur patterns...heh, I'll have to ask him he has a sister." Fay went on, turning back to her friend.

"Now wouldn't that be embarrassing. Having a relative painted like that on people's ships." Saiuri added, remembering to fasten her helmet all the way.

"Very..." said Fay.

With that, the two friends clambered into their respective cockpits, settling into the restrictive seats.

"Well, see you in the air, Fay." Saiuri bid farewell, giving her comrade an informal two-finger salute just as the transparisteel cockpit began lowering into place.

Fay returned it, and punched a small yellowish button on the side of the cockpit labeled 'Canopy Control' causing hers began to do the same.

After fastening the array of seatbelts and activating her microphone attached to her compact helmet, Fay began the various start-up procedures. After requesting and receiving permission for takeoff from the control tower, the docking catwalk began retracting from them, giving both space to lift off. After punching another button, the wings began realigning, and locked into place with a resounding click.

On both sides in immediate reach of her hands were control levers that acted as basic maneuvering controls, each one holding a trigger for the wing mounted cannons, the primary one in the nose automatically followed suit by default. On the right stick, away from the main trigger button was a larger one. The nova bomb/homing missile trigger.

_I've never used either before, of course I'm just a patrol craft, so I don't have any anyway._

At her feet were the throttle on the right, and retro engines on the left. Depending on the pressure applied, the more force put out on either application.

Just as Fay was reminding herself of where everything was, Saiuri's craft had just levitated and retracted it's landing gear, and accelerated out into the morning sun.

_My turn..._

With that, Fay disengaged the docking clamps, and gripped both control sticks. After taking a deep breath, she pushed straight down, and guided her Greenie up. She'd gotten used to this procedure, but still the sensation of being airborne gave her an indescribable thrill she couldn't help but relish for a couple more seconds. Then, following suit with her friend, sped forth down the archway.

The garage was much differently laid out compared to the hangar, each separate tank had it's own 'stall' along a long, stretching road that was accessible from two levels of catwalks, above and below. Two lines stretched out on both sides, forming a right angle. Directly in front of Kazen and crew, and in the apex of the angle, was a single, massive two story high arched corridor that led out into the sun baked Katinan sand. But between them and that stood a two story Control center for the technicians to report and manage supplies.

"Well, the old girl'll be in the usual place so...this way." Kazen said, recalling where their assigned vehicle was posted, and pointed down the left walkway.

Following their leader's direction, the rest continued along with him. Secillia kept her head straight ahead, focused entirely on the mission at hand. Alen was doing his best to regulate his breathing, the ever lingering thought that the dark, dull shapes of Invaders swarming like locusts overhead constantly plagued his subconscious. Gerard was looking casually about the scene, taking note of the other vehicles in place below them. Gerard noted a komodo dragon and badger could be seen sitting on the track mounts of their IFV, fixating the microphone equipment onto their heads and conversing between themselves.

Unlike the newer models, the old Landmasters had a fixed turret, and being smaller required fewer crewmen to operate. As the team continued on their trek, Gerard noted the various ones as they passed, and noted how diminutive a Landmaster seemed compared to the Monroe he saw earlier.

Eventually they came up to the beginning of the catwalk with the diagnostic interface sitting at arms reach, with the name 'Dornel' labeled on the top along with a status report on the vehicle, from it's serial number to it's class designation of, 'Lupus'.

"Finally..." Secillia injected, noting they'd journeyed almost to the end of the walk.

Leading his comrades down the stairwell, Kazen noted the familiar outline of the blue and grey painted vehicle.

"Alrighty, Alen, you first." Kazen ordered, stepping from the catwalk onto the top of the chassis, unlocking the generously sized hatch, and motioning for him to get in.

"R..right, right." the jittery ground squirrel complied, nervously stepping onto the titanium chassis and clambering atop the turret, and slipping inside the tank.

The interior of the Lupus tank was something to get used to, and like most tanks claustrophobia was a very undesirable trait. First were the firing mechanisms, then to the left of them, the chair were Kazen would sit. It was fixated on the back of the turret for ease of entry and exit for the other crewmen, and before it were display panels that provided him a clear view of the happenings around, and a small foldout command interface that would relay orders to his crew and communicate with other tanks around him. After getting below that, Alen came upon the firing control seat where Gerard would be, a pair of pedals that controlled turret rotation, a joystick at hands reach that withheld the actual trigger. He was also provided with a visual/infrared display of the scenery before him, for ease of aiming. Directly below and behind that seat was another, surrounded by communications panels and displays. Secillia's post, definitely. Then in front of Gerard's seat within the front of the chassis was Alen's seat. It also had visual and infrared holographic displays, although had a wider visual range than Gerards. After climbing over, then into his seat, Alen rested both his feet on the pedals, testing their responsiveness.

_Good...glad they keep these nice and oiled...I'd hate for them to suddenly jam up in the middle of, something..._

Alen tried his best to keep himself from becoming lost in the horrific thought of being unable to move quickly enough to avoid a fatal missile or other anti armor weapon, and snatched up his microphone headset and set the vaguely helmet like head protection piece in place. Just then, he heard the rustling of the others following him inside, first Secillia, who, after setting her tail in her lap so she could more easily fit into her spot, was followed by Gerard, then Kazen, who sealed the door.

The minute he did so, the internal lights activated, illuminating the interior.

"Alright, is everything ready, Alen?" Kazen's voice could be heard in his earphones, and vaguely in the background.

"Aye sir, everything's in order." he replied, setting his hands on the dual steering column.

"Roger that." came the simple response.

Then, Kazen remotely disengaged the securing clamps, the distant clicking sounds could be faintly heard outside. Alen then began the start up procedure, punching an array of memorized buttons. As the tank's engines came to life, a low rumbling sound could be heard slowly coming up into a steady, soft hum.

"Alright, Move out."

With a push upon the right pedal, the tank initially lurched forward from the sudden motion, then turned left towards the exit corridor near this far end of the garage.


	2. Chapter 2: The Reckoning

The Star Fox universe, Emperor Andross, Bill Grey, Fay Dawn, General Pepper, and many of the technologies used/described here are © Nintendo

Kazen Dornel, Gerard Hartford, Secillia Merrix, Alen Geale, Jelira Fovoham, General Redric and other custom made characters are property of Eric Luck I would be flattered if one were to use them in an art/writing piece, but I would appreciate notification beforehand. Thank you.

Author's Note: In the game Starfox 64, one was capable of single-handedly obliterating entire fleets. For creative purposes, the weapons such as the Arwing and Landmaster have been severely reduced to a far more realistic level.

Because being able to rack up in excess of 200 kills in one mission makes for a good video game, but not a good novel.

A big thanks goes to various music soundtracks for providing ideas and inspiration for this piece, especially Skies of Arcadia. I may compile a list of tunes that go with different scenes someday. Thanks also goes to my friends who supported and provided feedback while this was in the works, and to the numerous Starfox fanfic writers already out there for also providing inspiration.

This story is only to be distributed under my permission only. Questions/comments/complaints? Hurl them to me at 

The Threshold of Strife

Chapter Two - The Reckoning

By Eric Luck

"What a boring day."

- Lieutenant Jacob Chayth, 12th Katina Armored Division

Lieutenant Jelira Fovoham stood in the 3rd quarter control wing of Imperial Venomian Mothership 042G, surveying the assembling forces below. Each of the huge motherships were divided into 4 quadrants, the entire floors of each dedicated to the storage and quick deployment of military units. The interior of the ship was, following the ship's structure, circular. The command column was situated in the middle, transcending the various levels. Through rows of windows, Jelira could make out the complex system of walkways and blast doors leading to the deploying ramps. On the massive steel surface, who's face was painted with an array of guiding marks and the like, sat shapes of a wide variety, all lined up in an organized military fashion. Their ranks sprawled across the vast steel plated floor like patches of a quilt, the faraway infantry seeming like so many insects huddled together.

In front were rows of Korchaa MBT's, their fairly low profile, wide chassis and rather cowcatcher-like fronts characteristic of the model. Named for a large, predatory lizard native to Venom, each was painted a dull green with red stripes along the turret, the Venomian Imperial signet emblazoned on their sides. Behind them were rows of smaller and lighter IFVs, mobile AA, and in back where columns of Dinant APC's, their sharp, defined forms making for ease of storage en masse. These would be the armored forces that she would command. Just looking at the sheer amount of firepower, and the realization that there were 3 more groups at least the size of this

After looking over the shoulder of the present navigations officer, noting that the fleet was finally underway. Just then, Jelira heard the characteristic whirring sound of the door sliding open, prompting her to quickly turn around to identify her guest. In the doorway stepped a middle aged puma, his red, pressed uniform and black officers cap along with a variety of pins on his breast gave away his identity.

Immediately snapping to attention in the presence of a superior officer, Jelira clicked her heels together and saluted him. The goldenrod colored feline half-heartedly returned the salute, but had a rather sour expression on his face.

"Marshall Visner, sir, what brings you here?" Jelira inquired after returning to ease.

"Major, I'm sure you're aware of the magnitude of the task at hand." the surly puma began.

Confused, Jelira raised a puzzled eyebrow.

"But of course. I have been awaiting this operation for some time."

"Don't let the fact Redric allowed you a position in the attack go to your head. You're extremely lucky you're able to be in this position, Major..." He continued, with particular emphasis on her rank. "I will be watching your actions the entire time, and I want you to prove you have the right to even be in our presence."

Jelira resisted the urge to scowl and give him a piece of her mind, and kept up her stoic expression as best as possible.

"Yes, sir." came the simple reply.

With simply a sneer, the Field Marshal turned about and excused himself from the room, the door shutting promptly behind him.

Letting out a lungful of withheld breath, the opossum shook her head slowly, and returned to overseeing her forces.

Just then, Redric's voice came over the central communication speaker in the room.

"Attention, all commanding officers. Prepare your men for departure within 15 minutes. All capitol ship crews are to engage hyperspace on my mark. I wish you all the best of luck, and see you on Katina." came the assured, confident order.

Realizing this as her cue, Jelira stood up, drawing a slow, calming breath. With that, she activated the voice input, and spoke.

"Now hear this. All armed personnel are to report to their stations for immediate, emergency inspection. I repeat, all military personnel in armored divisions 36P- 55P and infantry companies 98 though 115 are to report for emergency inspection." she announced firmly, and clicked off the reciever.

Mentally rehearsing her future statements, Jelira purposefully turned about, leaving the noise of communications chatter behind her as she punched the door opening mechanism with an index finger.

---------------------

One could easily refer to the size and strength of Venom's armed forces with numbers. Hell, it often times would make one numb to the actual measurement of the subject. However you sliced it, even though Jelira had been well informed of all whom she was in charge of, it never ceased to amaze her of the sheer enormity of the men assembled before her. As she paced authoritatively in front of their superiors, sergeants, and fellow lieutenants, the scale of the operation began to fully sink in. Behind the men sat their vehicles, in long, stretching rows. Scanning the faces of the men, the she saw a massive variety of people; canines, felines, reptiles, equines, just to name a few. Looking into the eyes of those in the front row, she saw little more than unshakable confidence for the task ahead. Smiling at this, Jelira stopped before the center row and stood, facing them. Clasping her hands behind her back, she drew a deep breath, and spoke.

"Gentlemen, you are all on the verge of a great campaign, quite possibly the most noble of Venom's dignified history. For too long, petty differences have plagued Cornerian policy and lifestyle. Their corrupt government continually swallows the labors of their people to line their own pocket books, and shirking the rights of those they claim to protect. Under this leadership, the people are lulled into a complacency of compliance, and under a veil of servitude, rendered as living tools." Jelira said, mustering as stirring a speech as she could.

"_They_ are the enemies, of the People! And it is now our job, to rid the people of their shackles, and show to them the great, guiding hand of Emperor Andross! You hold upon your shoulders, a burdensome, but grand responsibility of bringing freedom to the Lylat system. Let us go, and make our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters proud!" she continued, raising her voice and fist so she could be heard clearly throughout the immense chamber. For a very nerve racking second, no response was heard. But eventually, a single pair of gloved hands near the back could be heard clapping, alone. Before long, he was joined by the others surrounding him, eventually building into a momentous roar joined with confident cheers and battle cries. Picking up their heavy assault rifles, many soldiers began slamming the stocks of their weapons against the steel floors, causing a resounding roar of noise throughout the ship.

------------------------

A strange, resounding noise echoing in the Sector 2 bridge prompted marshal Visner to turn his attention away from last minute organization preparations, towards the neighboring area.

"What in the name of Andross..."

Turning to face the other side of the bridge, the cougar leaned over the transparisteel window, looking down over the scenery before him.

"Ensign, what do you make of this...noise?" he asked with a hint of displeasure.

"Something has gotten the men in quadrant 3 riled up, sir." came the faceless voice's reply.

The cougar simply scowled in reply, noticing a familiar figure standing at the head of the boisterous crowd.

"That woman...is a nuisance. Trying to one-up me, I see. We'll just see how much good crowd pleasing does you on the battlefield..."

----------------------

Once the excitement of the moment died down, the troops began breaking off into their subsequent groups, many boarding the APCs that would carry them into the battlefield. But first, their superior officers stepped forth before Jelira, the first was a Crane captain with the insignia 'Morrison' pinned upon his pressed officer's uniform, just above the variety of colored buttons indicating rank.

"I am glad to see such spirited youth in our leadership. I believe you have a bright future here, Major Fovoham." the elegant bird complimented, extending a feathered wing/hand. Taking the offering, Jelira shook, smiling to the avian, and nodding in gratitude.

"Thank you, sir. I will not fail you." came her assured reply. With that, the crane took his leave, and returned to his unit.

He was followed by a black Labrador sergeant; he wore a soldier's armored uniform and helmet, certainly meaning he belonged to an infantry company, and would be fighting alongside his men. On his breastplate was imprinted the name 'Rodney'

"Remember, we will be awaiting your orders, and our lives are in your hands. My men and I are counting on your direction. But I'm sure you're already aware of this. Godspeed." With that, the canine saluted her firmly. Immediately returning the motion, Jelira watched the sergeant about face, and make his way to his assigned APC.

After him, approached a stately orangutan who was also fitted in a larger captain's uniform, adjusted to his broader frame. His face was turned in a rather critical scowl that was probably imprinted on his loose, folding flesh. A goatee of orange fur graced the edges of his face, a characteristic of his species. A certain imposing air floated about the primate, which brought a tingle down Jelira's spine. Upon his chest was pinned a number of multicolored buttons, almost resembling an array of candies. Above them was pinned a gold inlaid nametag, labeled 'Kolmec'. Already Jelira had an unsettling feeling gnawing in the depths of her stomach.

"Well, _madam_..." the authoritative orangutan began with a low, gruff voice, nearly spitting on the word.

"I do not see what the likes of _you _are doing in our, _proud_ military. I question the wisdom of bringing women out of where they belong. I am certain some poor fellow's stomach is writhing of emptiness, and his clothes in tatters. And here you are, conducting such foolishness, for shame. That is all." He continued, simply turning and leaving.

"Bah...stupid apes." She mentally retorted, barely containing a snarl of her own.

A moment of silence pervaded the area as the disgruntled ape sauntered on his way. When he was out of sight, the last officer present approached her. Much to her surprise, it was another female. This also relieved the tension of the previous moment, what with the chimp's remarks. She was a vulpine, but, what would normally have been voluminous fur had been trimmed rather thinly, as per military regulation. Her dark brown hair had also been shortened to just beyond the length of the base of her triangular ears. If not for her obvious feminine stature and features, she was presented in the likeness of a male officer. As a whole, she was not the most attractive of women; certainly there were many others that had more prominent curves or more radiant fur and hair. But beneath her cap, shone a pair of gentle yellow eyes that had yet to be dulled with hardship. Upon her right breast was pinned the name, 'Norwell'.

"Don't pay attention to him, he's full of it. You know, I think it's amazing that you've managed to be in command of a whole _division_. I hope others will follow in your footsteps, maybe we'll boot jerks like him out of the system one day." She explained with a comforting smile upon her lips. Also resting a gloved hand upon Jelira's shoulder, which to an extent surprised her.

"T...thank you ma'am." Jelira simply responded with a slightly nervous stutter. Returning the pleasant smile, reflecting her relief that she was, in fact, not alone here.

"Please, call me Nancy."

Alright, Nancy. I'll see you in the field, then. Good luck." Jelira added, clasping her hands together in front of her.

"You too..." with that, her newfound ally about faced, and made her way towards her assigned armored unit, her tail slowly waving about behind her as she went.

Jelira let out a slow sigh of relief.

"This might not be so bad after all..." she thought with a grin. Satisfied all was well, the opossum returned to the halls behind her, leading to the command tower.

----------------------

Back in the 3rd quadrant's bridge, Jelira stood before the view port, gazing down at her forces below. The last of the soldiers had boarded the APCs, and all tank crews manned their respective vehicles. Everything was in order.

Turning to her communications officer, a diminutive male badger behind a desk, Jelira cleared her throat, meaning to get his attention over his current task. Quickly swiveling about in his chair in response, he lifted the headset from his ears, and looked at her quizzically.

"Inform the commander that Quadrant 3's men are battle ready, and await deployment." she ordered, standing behind him calmly.

"Aye, si- ma'am." the badger acknowledged, correcting himself mid-sentence.

Beyond Macbeth's orbit, the numerous and varied shapes of Venomian capitol ships all began moving in unison, a rough formation beginning to take place. The sleek, elegant forms of the battleships took the lead, cruising steadily forth and forming a vaguely conical barrier in front of the disc-like Motherships. At the head of the formation, was the IVS _Mantis_, it's elongated bow forked into a pair of long needlepoint tips, like the fangs of some mythical monster. Shortly, the backs of it's, and all subsequent craft's engines began to a glow a shimmering white, like the glare of a multitude of suns. Then, pointing to the distant stars, each one's shape seemingly elongated as their drives thrust them forth beyond the speed of light, and to their unwitting foe.

-----------------------

The lylatian sun's warm light had just dispelled the shadows of early dawn around Aldebaran base, and the skies were clear save a few isolated clouds, like weightless tufts of lambs wool. All of this added up to hot and dry air, and if not for the Lupus' built in internal environment control systems, Secillia's aquatic physiology would find this climate unbearable. As it was, crammed in the back of the tank was rather uncomfortable for her. Wrapping her tail closely to her person so she could fit before the comm. console, comfort was never a hallmark of military vehicles. So far, the only noises she could hear was the rhythmic droning of the tank's engine and the faint rumble of the tires kicking up gravel outside. With a sigh, she tiredly rested her streamlined head upon a clawed hand, this routine having become rather dull. But it's necessity could never be denied.

Kazen meanwhile sat near the top, getting a good view of the surrounding area, and the surrounding, circular parade grounds. In the middle sat the tall, towering form on the control station, which directed all ground traffic. Just beyond could be made out Mariel Ridge, a high rise of ground that served as a backdrop for the rear of the base. Further away, the faint, ridged silhouettes of a mountain range could be seen, the name of which Kazen couldn't immediately recall. As the tank drove forth, he also noted others congregating there as well, then moving off to their designated patrol positions. Just behind him, a pair of Monroe IFV's rolled up from the same garage as him. Recognizing the markings on the sides of their turrets, Kazen remembered them from a previous patrol, a week ago.

_Seems they have a bit of a cycle going, here._

Just then, a bit of static momentarily crackled over Secillia's headphones followed by a familiar voice.

"Home base to L-1548, Dornel unit. Come in, please." came in the distinctive sound of captain Pendegrass' voice.

"This is Dornel unit, responding, sir." she replied.

For a moment, Gerard turned his head back towards the sound to hear better.

"Today, you will be in charge of Roland and Mcgregor's units. Remember, your orders are to patrol sectors I-5 to J-7, and any suspicious activity is to be reported _immediately_." the captain ordered firmly.

"Yes sir. Anything else, sir?" Secillia asked.

Before the commanding officer could answer, a loud roar of a jet engine sounded directly above, overwhelming everyone's ears until it eventually died off.

"What in the thousand hells..." Kazen cursed quietly, cringing from the noise. Shortly afterward, Secillia's radio sounded with another, different voice.

"Oh oh oh! Sorry you guys! I wasn't paying attention. That was close..." Fay's voice apologized, the sound of a relieved sigh following it.

His face faulting with slight irritation with this display, Kazen withheld a grumble, and turned his chair as far as he could behind him.

"Secillia, patch me through to Pendegrass. I have something I want to ask." the collie requested sternly.

Still shaken from the close call, Secillia did as she was told, punching a few buttons on her console, and opened command's to Kazen's line.

"What is it, Dornel?" Pendegrass asked, having an idea what this would be about.

"Sir, about the new pilot that's accompanying us. If I am not mistaken, I heard this is her first time working with a ground unit. Can we really depend on a green pilot like that, should anything come up?" Kazen asked worriedly.

"Aye, you are correct. True, Dawn is new to the business. But, according to her academy record, she has a history for valor in critical situations. I believe her to be a diamond in the rough, despite her attention span, which could do with improvement." the hyena explained thoroughly.

_Understatement of the year..._

"You can help shape her, I'm sure."

Breathing a small sigh, Kazen still felt a slight uncertainty, but let it go for the time being.

"Alright, sir, will do. Dornel out." with that, he closed the channel.

Then, Secillia's voice made itself heard behind him.

"Sir, Base control says we are cleared for departure. Shall I signal our friends to follow?" she asked.

"Yeah, lets form up, and move out."

With that, the two Monroes rolled up behind Kazen, flanking him to form an arrowhead shape as the three vehicles steadily trundled along the dusty road and out, into the flat fields beyond.

"Good t' see you again, Dornel." came a voice with a cockney accent over his headset.

"Ah, hello McGregor. Here we go again, watching the backyard." Kazen commented with a tired smirk.

"Ain't that the truth. Well, we're bringin' up the 'ear. Time to go birdwatchin', fellas."

With a chuckle, Kazen closed the channel, and through the visual display, carefully watched the distant shape of Fay's greenie fighter flying above and to the right of them.

----------------------

"Phew..." Fay breathed in relief, gazing to her right through her helmet, and canopy. The darkened Katinan soil sped by at a slowing speed as she eased off her thrusters, leveling off. The cockpit of the AS-54 wasn't the most spacious, but at least it wasn't as cramped as her old trainer was. In both paws she gripped the control levers for steering and fire control, which were situated in front of either arm. A translucent HUD (heads-up-display) was situated on the front of the canopy, having been electronically generated after the craft was powered up, taking on the role of the instrument panels of old. Everything from fuel, shield capacity, missile inventory, which was empty, to speed and position relative to the ground was included in a neatly organized scheme.

Just as she'd evened her jet into a straight path, Fay's comm. line in her headset crackled to life.

"Fay, are you alright? over." came Saiuri's concerned voice.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I just..got a little distracted, that's all." Fay reassured her friend, speaking into the microphone situated just beside her lips.

"I see...still spacing out, huh?" Saiuri replied with a slightly humorous tone.

Fay simply turned to face the saluki's fighter, and stuck out her tongue rebelliously, even though she wouldn't see it.

"Very funny." She added. "Well, see you later, Sai. Over."

"Likewise, over."

Breathing a sigh, Fay banked to the left a little, so as to bring the small armor formation below back into view, and began to fly wide, easy circles around them as they went. Then, something in the back of her mind grabbed her attention, and demanded to be addressed. With that, she momentarily took her right hand from the control stick, and opened a comm. channel to Kazen's unit.

"This is Green 13 to Dornel unit leader, come in please." she requested.

Shortly, a familiar voice crackled over her headset.

"Dornel unit, receiving. Go ahead." came Secillia's unmistakable voice.

"Remind me, what're our target coordinates, over."

"..I-5 to J-7, over."

"Ah, thanks, over!" with that, she closed the channel.

_I never liked talking in all that 'roger' and 'over' stuff, it gets so repetitive..._

She had gone through this every day, it had begun to seem incredibly dull and meanial. But it was always worth the boredom to get to fly, in her mind. The indescribable feeling of freedom in flight was something she wouldn't trade anything for.

-----------------------

The vastness of space had always mystified Commander Rulin, and often had to wake himself back into reality. Through the windows of Katina Defense station, KD 5, the faint, wispy form of the astronomical anomaly that dominated, and formed the namesake of, Sector Y could be seen the distance. As he stood in the hexagonal command bridge, surrounded by technicians and communications specialists working away at their directive tasks, the elk stood in the center rise, with his second in command seated beside him, the blue jay directing a new arrival on proper usage of the interface before him.

_I hate playing the waiting game...not having any news from Venom for so long is unsettling at best.._

Every now and then, it seemed to him every little glimmer of a star in the big, wide galaxy that shone was the indicator lights of some unnamed ship...only to remain completely still.

Leaning his head down, and momentarily feeling consciousness lapse, the elk quickly shook his head about, waking himself up. Rulin then turned about and tapped his second's shoulder.

"Jeffery, I'm taking a coffee break, I'm starting to phase out. I really need to get more sleep..." he told the brightly plumaged bird, who nodded in reply.

"No problem, sir."

Smiling gratefully in response, Rulin stepped down the steps and started to make his way towards one of the many lifts. Just as he was about to press the call button, a voice in the distance cried out.

"Sir! Sir! I've just picked up multiple hyperspace signatures disengaging 20 klicks away! I'm working on identifying them right now!"

That immediately got Rulin's attention, his mind instantly pulled from the longing for caffeine.

"What?!" he cried out, immediately running to the source of the voice, a female gecko at a sensor station. "Are you sure?"

"Affirmative, sir. I'm picking them up too." her compatriot replied from behind.

"Let me know when you identify them." He ordered anxiously. With that, he turned to a communications director just a few seats down.

"Inform all other stations and fighter squadrons, we have unidentified guests, and put our defense gunners on full alert." "And get a hold of the CWS Saratoga, Endeavor and any others that might be present, tell them we just might need their backup."

Hastily nodding in response, the director immediately went about his task, sensing the urgency of the situation.

Rulin then took a break to walk up towards the display panel.

_Dear God, has it really come...?_

The circular form of the station was lined with gun turrets, which while previously were still, suddenly came to life, rotating about and searching for any potential target. As he turned his attention beyond them, just between the yellowish glow of sector Y and the distant flaming orb that was Solar, a series of strange, bluish green distortions began to blur into existence, slowly taking form.

Just as they became recognizable shapes, a chill of dread ran down his spine as he recognized their silhouettes, which froze his boots in place with fear.

Out from the inky blackness, a large group of vessels approached at a speed that certainly did not indicate stopping by to exchange idle banter. Eventually, a large conical formation could be made out as, one by one each vessel dropped into real space. In front, was an array of the long, blocky utilitarian shapes of Harlock torpedo frigates, behind them the elegant, angular shapes of what Rulin identified as Zeiram battle cruisers loitered behind them, which seemed odd to Rulin...but he refused to waste time wondering.

"Londis! Send an urgent message to the capitol, we have a Venomian invasion at our doorstep!" the commander barked to his chief communications officer.

As he returned his gaze to the incoming force, he noticed something different at the head of the formation, a ship of unique design he had never seen before. Its bow forked like a snake's tongue, and had a very sleek, organic shape that dwarfed its escorts.

_That must be their flagship... _

--------------

Immediately, seeing the oncoming quarry the defensive guns of KD5 focused on their newfound targets, as well as those of KD 4 and 6, that sat not far away. All the Venomian ships were painted black with blood red trim, often identified as their 'battle motif'. First, the Harlock frigates cruised ahead of their heavier counterparts, seeming to be leading the assault. Just as they were doing so, however, out from the crest of the planet, another set of distortions appeared beside the defensive stations, which took on the shapes of new craft, joining the battle. Redric immediately identified them as Vigilance class Cornerian warships, 3 in total, including a pair of Shenandoah class destroyers. The former had long, elegant hulls and heavy gun turrets lined their topsides. The latter were more compact, and employed a wide array of weaponry.

"Hm..." the falcon mused to himself, processing this new event. "Change of plans, order the Harlocks to focus their torpedoes on the newcomers, and have the Zeirams back them up if necessary, otherwise stay out of range of the defense stations, and deal with the newcomers. Be quick, we don't want any more reinforcements coming in." he ordered, standing calmly at the Mantis' bridge, gazing at the new development before him.

Responding to the order, the lighter frigates turned their attention to the new arrivals. With blazing flashes of orange light, each frigate's 6 torpedo tubes launched their projectiles, each one speeding toward individual targets in a spread. As each left behind a bluish white trail, they created a morbidly beautiful pattern in their wake. In immediate response, each Cornerian vessel continued forth, fanning out and discharging clusters of white noise emitters off their sides, some of the torpedoes' guiding systems being distracted by their emissions. However, a good number of the speeding warheads still found their targets, slamming into thick armor plating, most simply breaking off sections of heavy durasteel, although the last couple missiles found soft decking beneath, causing small, scattered internal explosions in two of the Vigilance class warships. Undaunted, the group then focused their weaponry on the invaders, each onboard turret rotating to face their opposition. With spectacular blasts of bluish green, the 2 main turrets of all three ships spewed forth long comet-like projectiles of pure plasma energy, accompanied by an array of laser blasts from the side turrets. The Shenandoah destroyers then began loosing their array of missiles, spreading a fan of small, yet quick projectiles.

As soon as the shots were fired, the Venomian fleet had already begun rearranging itself to the new situation, the Zeiram cruisers lurching forward in front of their weaker comrades. The minute the plasma shells sped forth, each cruiser was already replying with shots of their own, a couple receiving glancing blows to their sides that burned away sections of their hulls. Suffering these near mortal wounds, one of them continued to plug onward with an all consuming fanaticism, until the second salvo put her out of the battle for good. The survivors were peppered with the cruiser's lasers, causing minor armor damage. However, the Shenandoah's missiles stayed true to the Harlock frigates, many finding their targets and slamming into hulls, damaging launching systems and tearing out decking. The far half of the invasion fleet however resumed the original plan of attacking the stations, loosing an array of torpedoes towards the three installations that stood between them and the planet below.

_Oh god, oh god..._

Rulin felt painfully helpless as he watched the deadly warheads streak towards him. Some white noise countermeasures managed to distract many of the torpedoes, but again, the rest continued towards him...

"All hands, brace for impact!" he yelled, clutching onto a support beam in anticipation. As a show of desperation, many of the on-station gunners attempted to shoot down the oncoming torpedoes, with insignificant success.

Suddenly the entire station was rocked with a number of explosions that, to Rulin felt like a great celestial hand had nudged against them, nearly lurching the elk off of his feet .

When the vibrations ceased, Rulin quickly looked about at his crew, taking a quick headcount. Breathing a relieved sigh, he found that they too had only suffered a slight shaking. The station's armor had held despite the heavy barrage.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked concernedly, making sure everyone was accounted for. Almost immediately one after another responded an affirmative, reorienting themselves from the shock.

"I should have asked this earlier, but...Gunnery control! Is there any way our weapons can reach those damnable frigates out there?" he asked aloud.

"Well sir, we have some torpedoes of our own, fortunately the new compression dampeners for our turrets were recently installed, so they _should_, in theory, have enough range. We just have not had the opportunity to field test them. They probably hadn't counted on those, with the distance they're keeping at." A vulpine male in the nearby corner announced, after reading a series of diagnostics.

"Well then, let's get to it! And remind our comrades, as well." he ordered, shifting his attention to the comm. officer he spoke with earlier. "Target the nearest frigates that get within the maximum range possible with everything we have. That ought to surprise them."

Following his orders, the gunners within the turrets took aim, anxious for the chance to finally repay the favor. Then one after another, each opened fire from dual barrels with bright greenish flashes, each lance of light spearing out towards their targets. Much to the surprise of the venomians, and to the delight of the defenders, many shots found their targets, at first simply splashing into energy shields but shortly burrowing into the light barriers and drilling into the armor plating beneath. They were shortly followed by an array of torpedoes that continued the job the heavy lasers started before many could retreat far enough, a couple frigates becoming critically wounded from the hard hitting warheads. Those shortly fell back, leaking debris and oxygen into the vacuum of space.

A loud, victorious cheer erupted from the bridge at the sight of the explosions, and even Rulin couldn't help but grin confidently.

_This battle has only begun, Andross..._

"What in the devil is going on at our left side, captain?" Redric demanded sternly, spotting the abrupt explosions and the loss of two of his frigates.

"S, sir, it would appear we underestimated the range on those defensive guns." his second in command replied slightly nervously, also not expecting the counterattack.

Grumbling to himself in frustration, Redric decided something he normally would not even consider, but this battle would be the exception.

"Order the remainder of the frigates to pull back even further, and redirect their fire on those battleships. I want them eliminated. And helm, get us into that battle, as soon as possible." Redric ordered, watching the clash with a furrowed brow. He was confident he would win, but it was simply a matter of how long it would take, which would invariably translate into precious vessels.

The control tower of Aldebaran base was a flurry of hurried activity, a klaxon alarm had been sounded, calling every able-bodied staff member to arms, and calling all reserve units to duty. Captain Pendegrass had just received word, and began punching up a comm. line to Kazen's patrol.

"Dornel unit, come in. This is Home base, do you copy?" the hyena asked in a tone reflective of the desperate situation.

Shortly, his communications officer's voice came through.

"Yes sir, Dornel unit receiving. Is there a problem?" she asked curiously.

"You're damned right there is a problem. We've got half of Venom's entire navy in orbit right now! Be ready in the event they attempt a landing, we'll do our best to keep em off up 'ere. Home base out."

"Understood, sir. Dornel unit out."

Breathing a tired sigh, the captain took a moment to look just beyond the base, where one of the heavy planetary defense grids was in place. Corneria was well aware Katina was a prime target, and prepared accordingly. After finally picking up coordinates of targets and powering up their weapon charges, a series of large long barreled cannons situated in a wide hexagonal formation pointed themselves skyward. Then a low whirring noise was heard that gradually increased in pitch until, almost unexpectably, each one loosed a barrage of shots up into orbit, each speeding up, and out of view. Every shot resounded loudly, causing the ground to seem to quiver with their force.

Suddenly, Commander Rulin noticed long, large lances of energy speed out beside his station from the planet, and towards their attackers.

"Well, looks like they're awake down there after all..." he mused to himself with a chuckle.

-----------

Shortly, the long projectiles of energy found their marks, many missing or only managing glancing blows, but some found more direct hits, one shot slamming into the lower right side of the Mantis' hull. While the flagship's heavy shields absorbed the shot well enough, it presented yet another thorn in Redric's side.

Just as he was about to wonder what became of them, the motherships dropped into realspace behind the ensueing battle, having timed their jump to arrive at the projected time of completion of the attack.

Smirking to himself, Redric called to his lapine comm officer, whose were ears tied back behind his head.

"Marlow, patch us through to the motherships, I want them to deploy their bomber squadrons and join half of our torpedo frigates in silencing those stations. Those big planetary defense guns must have a severe cooldown rate, so we must take advantage of every opportunity. Everyone else, to those warships!"

The large, intimidating silouette of the Mantis surely intimidated even the cruiser's captains, coming upon a vessel notably larger than one of their own. Before long, the Mantis itself was pouring heavy lasers onto their hulls, passing close by the one identified as the _CWS Saratoga_, both their firepower in a broadside exchange. When the Saratoga sharply turned to use it's smaller profile in an attempt to flank the larger ship, it found itself the victim of more heavily concentrated fire from the tenacious Zeirams, draining it's flank shields to critical. The jaws of the venomian ships soon closed on the hapless vessel, it's hull potmarked with burned holes that glowed like embers, and many of it's exterior turrets put out of commission. The ship began to resemble a dying bonfire, hull breaches scattered throughout, spewing fiery debris. Pelted with shots from multiple directions, including many towards her engines, the _Saratoga_ began to cruise listlessly, it's turning capabilities being steadily hampered. Before long, the noble warship resigned itself to the constant pounding, and began to drift, one of the four main engines sputtering, then finally dying into a black spot, the others beginning to suffer a similar fate. While it's counterparts continued to harrass and damage as many Zeiram cruisers as possible, many could not be distracted from their newfound victim, hungry to pounce on it. While many of the _Saratoga_'s remaining turrets still fired on the Mantis, escape pods were beginning to shoot out of it's battered superstructure, many using guiding thrusters attempting to make a re-entry into Katina. Having reloaded their torpedo tubes, the Harlock frigates returned to the scene, some loosing their weapons on the _Saratoga_ to finish her off. Uninterrupted, they found their target, burrowing deeper into the burning hulk. Soon, everything in the ship fell quiet, and a large flash could be seen within the center of the vessel. Much of the hull shuddered, as the interior core reactor exploded, and the ghostly remains of _CWS Saratoga _began drifting away like so much space junk, Corneria's first major casualty in this new war. The Shenandoahs attempted to split their focus between the horde of Zeiram cruisers and the Mantis, unsure which posed a greater threat.

Shortly, swarms of heavy fighter-bombers poured out from between the capitol ships, streaking towards the defensive stations in a well spread formation, followed by their larger counterparts with renewed vigor after receiving reinforcements. Each craft had a single, oblong hull with a pair of individual pylons on each side, which served as the bomb bays.

-------

"Oh...crap.." Rulin cursed aloud spotting the fighter bombers coming towards him. "Everyone! Do your best and bring down as many of those as possible!"

He leaned against the nearest display window, tightly gripping the handlebars before him. Not long before he'd just seen the Saratoga go down in a less than glorious demise, and it looked like her remaining sister ship would be following in her footsteps before long...

As the bombers and frigates made their way to the defensive stations, each's defensive guns opened up with a vengeance, managing to down a couple of the bombers before they reached their target, before finding an array of torpedoes sent their way. Upon impact, many of the torpedoes found their way to the turrets, destroying or crippling a good number of them. Others found their way to old wounds, further adding to the damage. Once the bomber squadrons arrived, a secondary array of close range, anti fighter turrets emerged from hidden compartments on each station, having initially been kept on reserve. The small, rapid fire guns that lined the top levels of the station pointed up and coordinated themselves, spewing round after round upwards, some shots striking bombers, eventually burning into their munitions, the resulting blast consuming the entire craft. However, the still numerous survivors unleashed a number of heavy, energy based bombs. The explosives glowed with a dark bluish haze and sped towards their targets, slamming into the remaining armor of the station, and damaging some of the new turrets and causing a number of further explosions, adding to the chaos.

The explosions nearly threw Rulin off his feet, and he could hear the unsettling noise of metal groaning in the distance as many electronics started to lose power. Then the dark red emergency lights flickered on, accompanied by dire alarms.

"Rg...Damage report!" he ordered aloud, pulling himself to his feet, coughing once from the acrid smoke that began to fill the air from ruptured power and oxygen lines.

"Sir! Hull integrety is down to 30 percent! We won't be able to take another salvo!" his damage control ensign, a male monitor lizard, reported in a bit of a panic.

Rulin grimaced, he knew what he had to do, despite disliking having to do it.

"Jeffery! I want all personell to abandon ship, immediately!" Rulin ordered, loud enough for all present to hear.

"Y..yessir. Alright everyone, you heard the man! Get as many people to the escape shuttles as quickly as you can! Go, go, go!" the blue jay bellowed, starting to rush everyone away. As the panicked masses filtered out, Rulin took one last look at the warships doing battle outside, a variety of flashes peppering the distance from both firing weapons, and hull explosions. Then, standing before the main control console, Rulin began keying in a particular sequence that had been reserved specifically for dire situations, such as this one. Punching the final key with a note of satisfaction, a countdown in dark red numbers appeared on it, beginning at 5:00:00.

"That should be enough...heheh, those damned Venomians won't know what hit them."

With that, the elk sprinted out of the decripid room, ensuring everyone on the bridge had been evacuated. As the doors of the lift closed, he silently hoped he would face his foe again, on more even terms.

-----------------

Meanwhile, the disc-shaped motherships began making their move forward, seeing as the defensive stations were beginning to fall. At each one, the guns were beginning to fall silent, and from all three, escape pods were jettisoning themselves out from the now defunct orbital emplacements toward the planet.

Jelira smirked to herself, watching the debilitating carnage just in view of their display screens.

"Everything is going perfectly..." she mused to herself with a macabre smirk, excited with the anticipation in the upcoming battle.

Looking off to the side, she could see, after feeling a certain satisfation, the third Cornerian battlecruiser that had intervened was beginning to fall, and both of their escorting Shenandoah destroyers had all but disappeared from view, probably having been reduced to space junk when she wasn't looking. Just as the bombers were beginning to return to their motherships for repair and rearmament, something out of the corner of Jelira's eye caught her attention. The delelict space stations directly in front of them had begun to slowly move forward, but their mostly crippled weaponry remained silent.

"What in the..."

Before she could react, the one 8 klicks in front of her suddenly detonated, and sprayed it's heavy, white hot steel debris out towards the surrounding invaders.

"Everyone, brace for impact!" she hastily cried out, expecting a large chunk to come their way. Soon, the other two stations followed suit. Blazing bits of metal streaked outward, most of them sailing away from their intended target, but some found their way to Motherships and Harlock frigates alike. A particularly large piece slamming into one of the torpedo ship's hull, a fiery explosion consumed the vessel, eventually fading out to reveal a blackened husk unrecognizable as what it once was. Other bits of shrapnel dispersed throughout the fleet, smacking into Zeiram cruisers and a couple Motherships, causing minor to moderate hull damage. Fortunately for Jelira, however, their vessel only received small bits that were easily deflected by the Mothership's impressively thick armor.

------------

Watching the unfolding battle, a bright flash suddenly caught Redric's attention from the side of the large view screen about the Mantis.

What was _that_, Marlow?" he asked with a hint of frustration.

"Sir, it seems like the three stations...self destructed and damaged some of our ships, and destroyed a Harlock frigate." the lop-eared officer replied with slight dismay in his voice.

Redric contained a growl, unable to deny the defender's admirable persistence.

_This won't be easy like we thought..._


	3. Chapter 3: Friends and Foes

The Star Fox universe, Emperor Andross, Bill Grey, Fay Dawn, General Pepper, and many of the technologies used/described here are © Nintendo

Kazen Dornel, Gerard Hartford, Secillia Merrix, Alen Geale, Jelira Fovoham, General Redric and other custom made characters are property of Eric Luck I would be flattered if one were to use them in an art/writing piece, but I would appreciate notification beforehand. Thank you.

Due to combat, death throes, and various other war related content, this chapter is rated R

Author's Note: In the game Starfox 64, one was capable of single-handedly obliterating entire fleets. For creative purposes, the weapons such as the Arwing and Landmaster have been severely reduced to a far more realistic level.

Because being able to rack up in excess of 200 kills in one mission makes for a good video game, but not a good novel.

A big thanks goes to various music soundtracks for providing ideas and inspiration for this piece, especially Skies of Arcadia. I may compile a list of tunes that go with different scenes someday. Thanks also goes to my friends who supported and provided feedback while this was in the works, and to the numerous Starfox fanfic writers already out there for also providing inspiration.

This story is only to be distributed under my permission only. Questions/comments/complaints? Hurl them to me at 

The Threshold of Strife

Chapter Three - Friends and Foes

By Eric Luck

"The Emperor is Life, the Emperor is death, he gives and takes both as he chooses, for Heis almighty. Long live the Emperor!" - Unnamed Venomian Elite 'Black Hand' Squad Trooper

It was fairly cramped inside the venomian APC, but considering they were designed to carry a full squad of 20 soldiers, they were spacious enough. The main interior compartment was lined with seating along the walls, storage cabinets containing all manners of supplies from munitions to medical equipment were situated just above head level. on the far side of the chamber closest to the front, was a large heavy door leading to the driver's compartment, and the large, wide main entry/exit door. Light from the Mothership's interior lights filtered in through small slits in the sides just wide enough to permit a firearm. Inside, the vehicle was occupied by all manner of men of varying species, but they all had their armored battle gear in common, and were it not for the fact they kept their helmets off until arriving in the field, they would all look identical. But one, out of all the others, stood out.

"Psst. Hey, you see what I see?" one of them whispered to his comrade seated next to him. At the same time, he motioned toward the anomaly.

"Yeah...the poor thing. She must have been one of those 'lucky ones' that got their birth month drawn out of the hat in the draft." he replied, holding a gloved hand beside his muzzle.

"I'm amazed she qualified even then...I'd almost think she was in junior high, but that's not possible, at least I hope it isn't. The Emperor can't be _that _desperate." the first added.

The one directing their attentions was a small, diminutive female fitted in a suit a size or two too large for her. Fortunately the institution of women into the armed forces was not so immediate as to prevent especial suits being made for them, but not many were of this one's stature. Without a helmet, her short black hair was allowed to fall naturally. It fell straight just below the level of her nose, and the edges billowed out a little bit, giving it a volumous appearance. Her facial fur was primarily a dark amber, offset on the bottom of her jaw by a lighter shade of orange, giving a vaguely vulpine like appearance to the distant bystander. But unlike a fox, her muzzle was blunt and shorter than most canines, but still would classified as such. Below her small, triangular ears, her cheek ruffs extended all along the side of her skull, but had been trimmed considerably from it's original state. The young Pomeranian sat totally quiet, hunched over as though a burdensome weight sat upon her shoulders. She stared listlessly at the steel plated floor without a single twitch, save the slow rise and fall of her breathing. It appeared as though her mind was not in the same place that her body was, perhaps absorbed in some faraway fantasy land away from pain, grief and suffering. On her hip was holstered the standard issue pistol, and her assault rifle lay across her lap.

"Hah, I bet wherever she is, it's definitely not Katina." the second commented with a chuckle.

His comrade was just about to reply when suddenly, the front door opened, revealing the intimidating form of their condor commanding sergeant, probably bringing their latest briefing. Everyone sat up in attention upon his arrival, everyone that is, except one.

"Alright ladies, now pay attention. That includes _you,_ private." he stated sternly, focusing his attention and raising his voice toward the young woman on the far side of the compartment.

Suddenly, as though jarred from hypnotic sleep, she snapped straight up and quickly looked around, startled. When she suddenly realized she was being spoken to, she immediately shrunk back in shame, and a bit of fear.

Breathing a sigh, but content that he'd gotten her to pay attention, the sergeant resumed his debriefing.

"Marshall Visner has ordered us to take part in spearheading the assault on our first objective, a Cornerian base codenamed Aldebaran. When we land, there will most likely be defending forces on the ground. Now, our armor will do their best to ensure a swift victory, and we will deploy on the base's outskirts and our job is to get inside and capture the base. On the way, we most likely will meet resistance. That's what _these_ are for." the condor explained, tapping one of the slits with a gloved knuckle.

As the sergeant lectured, the young Pomeranian could do little other than simply do as she was told, which was to watch, and listen. She loathed being here; just the thought of what she was about to get into frightened her beyond anything she'd ever felt before. It seemed like just yesterday she was studying for her last social studies exam of high school, then suddenly a draft is issued, and she just so happens to be one of the lucky women whose birth dates were drawn for the draft, in order to further bolster Venom's ranks. Emperor Andross was itching for soldiers to fight his war, and if that meant pressing young women into service, so be it.

_I'm no soldier...I'm an artist, I write poems, I draw. And yet...here I am...with a gun in my hands, and armor on my back. I don't want to die...But, there's nothing I can do. I'll just have to hope for the best that this ends soon so I can get back where I belong.._

In silent contemplation, the commanders words seemed to fade into the distant obscurity, out of mind.

_Heh...I guess in an odd way, all those times beating my brother in the arcade will pay off, just long enough that I can survive...What have you gotten yourself into, Ashlea?_

---------

Kazen could feel the rough steppe of Katina beneath the Lupus' heavy wheels, making the vehicle jostle a little as it went. Aside from that, everything seemed oddly, almost forebodingly silent. Looking once more through the field display before him, still finding little more than the rocky hills and occasional tree.

Breathing an anxious sigh, Kazen impatiently tapped his knuckles against the arm of his chair.

Suddenly, just as he was about to ask Secillia to patch him through the command, her communication equipment began crackling noisily, and shortly Pendegrass' distinctive voice could be heard, with something else in the background that sent a chill down Kazen's spine: air raid alarms.

"...ornel unit, come in please. I repeat, come in Dornel unit."

Immediately grabbing his microphone, Kazen stepped in for Secillia.

"Dornel unit, here. What in hell is going on over there?" Kazen asked, his tone reflecting the built up tension.

"Orbital defenses were inadequate, Lieutenant. Get your men ready for close contact, their Motherships will be swooping down any minute now. Our core units are deploying immediately to back you up, but we don't know how much you'll be encountering. Be prepared for _anything_." the captain explained, doing his best to speak over the alarms.

"Yes, sir..." Kazen replied apprehensively. With that, he closed that channel, getting ready to relay the message to his comrades.

_That helps a lot..._

Alen looked up questioningly at Kazen, as did Gerard and Secillia.

"Well, looks like we're going to get some excitement today after all. The question is, how much..." Kazen explained with a hint of optimism, looking from one to the other. Alen immediately visibly trembled at the thought of facing a Venomian invasion force, but Gerard kept a stern, steady face. Secillia, as usual, was unreadable, remaining silent.

"Well, it's time to earn our pay, I say." Gerard added, sitting up in his chair, and taking the firing controls in hand.

With a smirk, Kazen turned to Secillia.

"Hey Secille, patch me through to McGregor and Roland, need to spread the word."

With a stern, dutiful nod, the shark did as she was told. Hearing the crackle of noise in his headphones, Kazen sat back in place.

"Wot is it, sir?" came Mcgregor's distinctive voice.

"The time's finally come. We're going to have Venomians on our doorstep any minute now." Kazen replied calmly.

"Blimey! All right, you sods! You heard the man, we've got blighters incoming! Batten down the hatches!" Mcgregor announced boisterously.

"But, sir, our hatches are already closed..." a voice in the background protested.

Kazen chuckled to himself before shutting off his end of the channel. After thinking a moment, he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, tell Fay, as well. She'll probably be able to tell us where they'll be ahead of time." Kazen added to Secillia, who quickly followed through.

Meanwhile, rotating the turret to the left and right, taking in a wider view of the surrounding area, Kazen noted his accompaniment beside him, and continued to scan the horizon, noticing Fay's fighter cruise by overhead. Every time he spotted a dark shape in the sky, he almost swore it was the impending invasion, but it always would turn up empty, adding to the anxiety.

_Come on..._

----------

Fay had just finished another circle around Kazen's tank, just grazing 30 feet above treetops, when a voice crackled through her headset.

"Fay, come in. I repeat, come in Dawn." came Kazen's voice, a hint of concern in his words.

"Yes sir? What's the problem, over?"

"We're going to have company real soon. Venomian Motherships will be inbound any minute, now." Kazen warned her.

"..Seriously?" she replied, her voice betraying her disbelief. "Well, alright then. I'll let you know when I spot any, and I'll be sure to give em hell for you guys!" she continued returning to her jovial tone.

"Good to hear that. Dornel out."

Drawing a breath and releasing her grip from the controls for a second to stretch her wrists in preparation, Fay prepared herself for the impending battle.

"My first real fight! This'll be good, I hope they save some Invaders for me..." she thought to herself assuredly.

Almost on queue, yet another voice came over her headset, but was different.

"Attention, all fighter units. Imminent Venomian invasion underway, prepare for melee combat. Reinforcements are inbound from bases Aldebaran, Vega, and Menagerie. Also, Commander Grey will be arriving shortly, and will assume command. Godspeed, HQ out." came an unidentified female voice.

_Commander Grey...as in, Bill Grey? Wow...this is serious...! I've always wanted to meet him, I hear all kinds of wonderful things about him...er, wake up Fay. Now's not the time to swoon._

Before long, a series of green blips appeared on Fay's radar, many in a triangular formation. Out of the corner of her eye, Fay could spot 5 groups of other Green fighters emerge from the horizon, some swerving around behind her, coming up to her right side. With 5 members apiece, there were now over 25 of the airborne defenders cruising about Katina's airspace. At the head of them all, was Bill's characteristic modified fighter. Just in time, too...

Everyone on the scene, including Fay, Kazen, and the newly arrived Husky Squadron witnessed something seemingly cataclysmic. An array of objects came streaking down from the sky like so many fiery meteors, towards Aldebaran base, leaving a long, black trail of smoke behind. Probably missiles shot from orbit. They shortly slammed into the ground around the base, resulting in a series of fiery glows in the horizon. Just then, another voice came over her headset.

"I hope everyone's rested! This is Commander Grey, and I'm taking control of this operation. Husky unit, give our friends out here a paw, we've got an incoming UFO re-entering our atmosphere as we speak!" came the charismatic, but stern voice of the renowned pilot. On que, a large, looming cloud of fire emerged off to Fay's left. It resembled a violent raincloud that roiled with flames, which seemed to envelop a dark object beneath. It spanned what had to at least be several miles across. Fay watched in horror as it was joined by a second shortly behind it, and what seemed to be at least one other off in the distance.

"Holy...god..." a nameless voice mumbled with an obvious tint of terror over the channels. Fay couldn't help but silently share his sentiment.

---------

Alen felt a large lump form in his throat upon seeing the sheer impending doom cast a large, menacing shadow over the landscape in the distance. It was like the scene from many of his nightmares...

_Uh oh...here it comes..._

Doing his best to keep his hands still on the controls, Alen continued a direct course on a faint trail on a rolling valley which, not coincidentally, had begun to take them directly in the path of the Motherships.

_I mustn't fail them...I mustn't fail them..._

---------

Jelira could feel the tiles beneath her boots begin to shake as the Mothership began re-entry. Even though she'd been through this process a number of times, the opossum grabbed onto a railing to keep herself secure, as the display screen depicted layers of clouds parting before the disc-shaped vessel. But she could not help but smirk fiendishly with the thought of their impending attack. Shortly thereafter, the last of the clouds faded from view, revealing the massive expanse of Katina's surface before her. It was mid summer in this part of the world, so much of the bare soil was a rusty brown, Katina's characteristic color. Many grassy groves and expanses of trees lined the rolling hills of the unoccupied land. But, off in the distance, she could see the much more heavily urbanized areas, that marked their eventual destination.

_It'd be nice if we could just head straight to the throat, but this is the closest we could land any manner of sizable force that could storm that headquarters of theirs, and we have this establishment in our way. Bah, no matter. _

Just then, Jelira could feel the Mothership's descent begin to slow, and the ground begin to grow closer and closer. They were about to land.

_Good day, Katina. I hope you like the colors of the Imperial Venomian flag._

---------

Just as the rumbling began, Ashlea knew they'd entered the atmosphere. The scene inside of the APC had been silent after the sergeant had left, leaving each inhabitant to their thoughts, whatever those may be. The tension was suddenly broken when the Condor re-emerged from the small door, causing a unanimous lifting of helmeted heads.

"All right, scrubs. The time's come." the sergeant announced over the noise, seeing he had everyone's full attention. "Now, we'll hit soil in minutes. Our good driver will do his best to keep us safe, but Benson, Fredrick, we'll need you and your good buddies should we encounter any armored resistance. Remember, our purpose is to aid in the storming of the Katinan base, and to clear out all resistance. Keep your wits about you, and you'll survive. I'll see you on Katina!" he continued, yelling at the top of his voice over the rumbling. "Are we ready?!"

"Yes, sir!" came the chorus of voices, including a psuedo-enthusiastic Ashlea.

"I can't hear you!" The sergeant egged on. "Are we ready to kick some Cornerian butt?!"

"Hell yes!" the entire platoon proclaimed, even louder this time. Then, as though on cue, the all consuming hum of the ships levitation units quieted as the large vessel came to a stop.

--------

Both Kazen and Gerard were momentarily awestruck, as they witnessed at least 2-3 disc shaped motherships emerge from their fiery shrouds and descend down before them, and the massive deploying ramps on their undersides open. After zooming in via his periscope, Kazen could make out the shapes of all sorts of armored vehicles and troop transports drop down to the recieving pad via what appeared to be a gravity lift. Aside from that, other motherships hadn't landed, but remained airborne, and began deploying airborne fighters, primarily the oval shaped Invader III's, although a number of II's accompanied them as well.

"It looks like the entire Venomian army stopped by for tea!" Gerard remarked, partially in awe.

"Would that be one lump, or two?" Secillia added behind him.

"Well, let's make sure our guests receive a warm welcome. Tell Roland and McGregor to ready their weapons, things are about to get _loud_ down here." Kazen ordered, shifting his tone to keep spirits up. "That goes for you too, Gerard. Lock and load, and keep your eyes peeled. Secille, patch me through to the captain. He's going to want to know about this..." Kazen instructed.

With a confident smirk, Gerard sat back in the seat, and secured his helmet. With a memorized pattern of pulling a small set of levers and switches, a low _clunk_ noise was heard from within the barrel. Using a pair of pedals, he rotated the turret left and right, getting reacquainted with the on, show me what you've got, you maniacal primate!

-------

Fay was also awestruck by the sheer enormity of the invasion, and was beginning to worried about their chances against such odds.

"Holy crap! They're everywhere!" a pilot proclaimed as what seemed like a veritable cloud of fighters poured from one of the massive Motherships like wasps from a hive.

"There must be hundreds of them!" Another added, both with a hint of well placed fear in their voices.

"Listen up!" Came Bill's voice over the chatter. "Huskie squadron! Attack pattern claw, the rest of you hold our sides and try to bring down as many as you can in the initial run!"

Steeling herself for the oncoming onslaught, Fay kept both her thumbs just above the triggers, lurching forth at full speed. In seconds, she and the others were faced with a sheer wall of bright green laser fire. Doing her best to keep from panicking, Fay swerved right, barely dodging the shots and squeezed off several bursts at the group in front of her as she passed through the swarm. Firing in near unison, the defenders shots found many of their targets, causing some of the dark green fighters to explode outright, others receiving minor damage. Deftly dodging oncoming fighters, each coming within mere feet of her canopy, yet unsure wether or not any of the various explosions were her kills. Firing in near unison, the defenders shots found many of their targets, causing some of the dark green fighters to explode outright, others receiving minor damage.

Suddenly, Fay's ears were pierced from the panicked scream of a fellow pilot, and just witnessed a comrade, having made an unwise turn slam into an unwitting Invader II, consuming both in a fiery embrace of death. Nearly avoiding a similar fate, she pulled back on her control stick, pulling her fighter up skyward, then diving back down onto the frenzy of fighters locked in a crazed dance. Pulling off shots as she descended onto any Invader unlucky enough to fall under her sights, although almost none found their mark.

As she pulled up to avoid a collision, she suddenly found lances of energy spearing out towards her, passing a hair away from her cockpit, and, upon looking behind her realized three Invader III's had begun tailing her. Deciding to give them a bit of a chase, she hit the full throttle and leveled out, banking slightly right. Naturally the Venomians pursued, also accelerating to catch up with her. She was momentarily surprised with the Invader's speed, but that gave her an even better idea, and suddenly remembered her appointed task with Kazen. As she circled around a high rise, with the Invaders gaining on her and unwittingly being lead from the safety of their numbers, Fay abruptly punched the retro engines, slowing her down to 1/4 speed, and dove down slightly, allowing her pursuers to pass overhead. With a stare of pure determination, she aimed upward with her two cannon and opened fire on the two that were still in front of her, the third having been quick enough to catch the surprise maneuver and had seemingly disappeared. As the two's engines erupted in flames under her relentless barrage, she soon found the third coming in fast on her side, just coming out from a loop. She quickly turned towards her attacker just as she felt her fighter shudder from repeated hits. The two quickly passed each other, thus beginning a series of crisscrossing in midair, and many failed attempts at delivering the fatal blow on both parties.

_This must be one of the squadron leaders...sit still already, darn you!_

------

Jelira stood confidently at the helm, the delighted smirk still plastered on her face. Her units had begun pouring down the ramps in rows of three in a parading fashion. Leading the two groups were squads of heavy Korchaa tanks, followed by Vorrens and the APC's, as well as a couple anti air vehicles. Once all had assembled before the Mothership, it began lifting off, and out of potential harms way. Taking up the command console, Jelira was presented with a bird's eye view of the scenery below.

_My, this is nice..._

Deciding to get to the task at hand, Jelira opened up a comm line to the Vorren leaders.

"Morrison, LaFayette, spread out a line abreast and advance across the steppe. Present them with a wall of steel." She commanded calmly. Then, she shifted to the MBT commanders.

"Norwell, I want you and your men to follow behind and be ready to flank anything the main force encounters."

"Right. Good thinking, miss Fovoham." came Nancy's characteristic voice.

Smiling in response, Jelira moved onto the APC's and BT-40's.

"Now, Rodney, just keep behind the armor at all times. But should you be engaged, your men have permission to return fire."

"Yes'm." Came the quick reply. "All right, move out!"

Complying with her coordination, the armor columns fell into formation, and began trundling forward. Currently, they were crossing a field of short grasses and shrubs, although a grove with a fair amount of trees was coming up ahead. On another section of the field, she could see Visner's similarly composed brigade, although he was granted a group of mobile artillery pieces, due to his outranking her.

_Hm...that forest could be a good ambush zone. Heh, if only Visner didn't have that feline head of his up his ass, I could get him to flush out anyone hiding in there. He'd never listen to me. Let's see here..._

As the impending columns of Venomian armor approached, the air battle continued to rage. Lances of laser fire streaked out ahead towards the shape of the hapless Invader III, attempting to outmaneuver Fay in a long, drawn out skyward loop that she'd followed her quarry up. The bright green beams of energy pierced through the fuselage, drawing out a dotted line across it's breadth. For a timeless moment, the two combatants hung in the air, until leaking fuel lines ruptured, and ignited. The resulting explosion scattered metal debris in a black and grey cloud Fay inadventently flew through, feeling herself wince behind her visor as she heard the noises of chunks of steel smack against her hull. Upon clearing it, she was provided with a view of the air battle that her previous adrenaline induced focus had blinded her to. Contrails from fighters of both sides had created a white misty tapestry interwoven with itself. She could only admire the scene for a second, before an alarm screamed in her ears, a small indicator light on the left side of her console blinked bright red.

_A missle lock...! _

Immediately glancing at her HUD, a bright red dot appeared left and behind her projected point, and watched as it gained up on her. Swiftly, she banked hard left, slowly flipping herself upside down in the process. Swallowing hard, and praying she timed the maneuver properly, she immediately pulled back on the stick, watching the ground come right up to her at an alarming rate. Fay simply closed her eyes and kept pulling until she was afraid she'd break the control sticks, feeling vibrations rock her small fighter craft. When the anticipated crash never came, the poodle slowly opened one eye to find the horizon coming back into view. Levelling off mere meters from the ground, Fay could almost hear the whisper of grass blades brushing against the fuselage. Immediately afterward, she heard the distant explosion of the missle that'd been trailing her slam into the ground.

_I hope I never have to do that again...I definately won't be so lucky, next time..._

----

Just as it seemed that the attacking Invaders had the upper hand, more Green fighters would appear on the scene to tip the scale to a somewhat even standing.

"Wow...Bill's sure giving them hell, up there." Kazen remarked, watching the skyward scene.

"Really? Hah, that's good to hear." Gerard added.

"It's not easy going though...we're losing a lot of good me- oh, crap! Alen, hit the brakes!" Kazen suddenly exclaimed in surprise. Instantly doing so, the tank came to a stop, lurching everyone inside forward, Gerard nearly smacking his muzzle onto the fire control panel, grumbling muffled protests. Shortly afterward, the flaming hulk of a Green fighter slammed into the ground beside them, and still having momentum left over, tumbled nose over tail landing nearly directly in their path, scattering charred debris all over the ground in front of them.

Alen was frozen still, mortified by the sudden, frightful sight and horrific noise.

"You sure tell it like it is, Kazen." Secillia commented with a hint of unease.

Kazen took a moment to ensure no other derelict craft were coming their way, then spoke to Alen again, more coolly this time.

"Okay, Alen. Get us in that grove. From there, you can scan the area and figure out where they're coming from, Secille.

"R..Right." came the ground squirrel's shaky compliance. After going mobile again, Gerard couldn't help but turn his viewer to look over the wreckage. It was a complete fiery mess, but something caught his eye; there were no remnants of a canopy, so the pilot must have ejected.

"Hm...that reminds me." Kazen mused aloud, changing his mic channel."Fay, are you out there? Come in."

Eventually the static dissipated, and her strained voice cut through the silence. In the background, Kazen could hear the distinct sounds of battle, the noises of bypassing engines, guns firing, and explosions.

"..Yes, Kazen, sir?" She asked simply, remembering her salutation in time.

"What's going on, where's our air cover?" He asked, doing his best to remain calm after spotting the large column moving in his direction.

"Oh! I'm..sorry, sir, I got so wrapped up over here, I forgot. I'll...see if I can't get over there without too many of them tailing me, I've gotten urk quite popular over here, sir." she replied, interrupted by a sudden rumbling noise, probably from a hit.

Grimacing, Kazen silently hoped for her safety.

Meanwhile, back at Aldebaran base...

The entire scene was one of chaos, every able bodied soldier scrambling to their defensive posts, tank crews moving to man their vehicles.

Captain Pendegrass stood in the control tower, overlooking the scene of the base, remaining operational tank was taking up defensive formations just as a heavy defensive bulkhead surrounding the base began rising up from it's subterranean housing.

He shook his head slowly, breathing a worried sigh.

Suddenly, one of his aides ran up behind him, shouting.

"Sir! Sir!" the chinchilla exclaimed.

"What is it, seargant?" he asked, slightly agitated from the interruption.

"We've confirmed reports of massive Venomian ground landings from our scout teams, they'll be at our doorstep within minutes!"

Snarling quietly to himself, the hyena clenched his gloved fist tightly, then drew a relaxing breath.

"Alright, I want everyone in this sector to establish defensive positions, every able bodied fur is to take up arms. Set up ambush points within the facility's infrastructure, make use of every bipod machine gun we have. Use sandbags and office tables if you have to, as well. Almost all our armour is out in the field, and combined with their infantry, we wont have a chance against them in the open. They can't get inside with their armour, so we'll have to hold out inside until reinforcements arrive."

"Roger, captain.." the chinchilla replied with a shakey salute, and quickly took his leave.

----------

Nancy Norwell sat perched in her commanding seat of her heavy Korchaa tank, peering through the display visor, scanning the forest up ahead.

"Miss Norwell, be aware of a potential ambush, I'm picking up heat signatures approaching your position from the south, on the other side." Came Jelira's voice over her headset.

"Roger that, commander. But wouldn't it be easier to call in the artillery?"

"I would, if they were under my command. Visner outranks me and wouldn't listen to me anyway."

Just as Jelira finished her statement, a series of blasts rocked the ground around them.

"What in the..?!" Nancy wondered aloud, turning her scanners left and right, just in time to see the distant shapes of gun barrels pointed skyward discharge bright red flashes that quickly dissipated.

_Well, speak of the devil._

But, the artillery barrage didn't land where she had expected. In the distance, toward the projected location of the base, a series of explosions rose up from the ground, taking up dust, and various other debris.

"Alright, Visner's started the fighting, I'd suggest you guys head towards the hillside and try to avoid any ambushes they may have for you. Good luck...Nancy." Jelira's voice encouraged.

With a smirk, the vixen replied her compliance and relayed the order to the 4 units following her.

The 5 tanks, accompanied by a pair of APC's and escorting Vorrens, roared onward at full speed into the fringes of the forest, smashing down smaller trees in their path and a couple rolling up inclines sideways with ease. Following the flow, another squad came up behind Norwell's and covered her flank as they pushed into the wilds. The Macbethan 'Korchaa' Main Battle Tank was a magnificent sight to behold, it had been renamed for a large reptilian predatory animal native to Venom, it fit it's namesake very well. Generally painted in temperate camoflauge color schemes, these had been painted in reds, tans and browns to fit the Katinan soil.

Picking up the chaos of the armor column's entry on their scanners, Kazen's squad took up an arrowhead formation, his Lupus tank forming the lead. Finding a hill that might provide a good lookout point, the trio made their way maneuvering between the biggest trees whenever possible, across a ravine and began scaling the hill. Once atop it, the size of the forest became clear, as it covered the mountainside to their right up to the higher elevations, and came to an abrupt end not far to the left. In the fringes of the forest, near Fay's last reported coordinates, Kazen could make out dust clouds rising up from fallen trees, but it seemed they'd stopped pushing them down, and vanished in the foliage. Thick with heat signatures and life signs, it would be difficult for either side to locate the other...Until a thought crossed Kazen's mind.

"Fay, do you read? Over." Kazen inquired over the radio.

Before long, the static cleared with her voice breaking through the noise.

"Yeah, I'm still up here, sir, amazingly...we're getting smacked around up here!" she replied, some desperation prevalent in her voice.

"I see...it wouldn't be too much trouble to try and break from that fray and give us a paw, down here?" Kazen asked patiently.

"...yes sir, I'll thump try.. " came the response over the interference, most likely from the vast array of other transmissions flying around all at once.

"Alright, don't go dying on us..."

Shifting his scans to the distance, he could see tracer fire from aircraft and anti aircraft platforms, the latter sending up streaks of bolts skyward , many missing their targets, but every now and then finding their mark, prompting scattered explosions.

_Urg...they're doing a fine job, but they won't last long...get over here, before you go with your comrades, Fay!_

Realizing they'd be easy to spot on the hilltop, Kazen's Lupus promptly took the lead down the hill, towards the spot he'd seen the trees crash.

-------------

In the parade grounds of Aldebaran base, the air was pierced was the droning wail of an air raid siren. The walls of the building had been penetrated from orbital bombardment, collapsing in some areas, and scattering all manner of debris all over the parade ground, including a couple dug in tanks. The artillery barrage has knocked down sections of wall and damaged many other vehicles.

"Get those MSA's topside, we've got inco- " came an officer's voice, cut off from a near miss plasma bomb explosion, blowing out a wall and throwing up debris. Light bombers that'd taken advantage of the Greenie's distraction roared overhead, dropping their screaming payloads onto the facility whilst being fired upon from what remained of the defensive structures.

Captain Pendegrass felt a dire sense of futility overwhelm him watching the base begin crumbling all around him, and the ground forces hadn't even arrived yet... Communications were a mess, men were scattered everywhere, setting up defensive positions wherever they could find shelter from the overwhelming barrage.

_But we must hold out as long as possible...! The better we do now, the less difficult it'll be for Corneria...whenever Pepper has his way and gets an expeditionary force over here.._

Just then, he felt the control tower shudder from a nearby bomb impact, the bright greenish haze taking up the side of the viewports for a moment, nearly blinding the hyena.

"Rrgh.." he grunted, shielding his eyes from the glare, wishing the best for the men and women he'd sent out earlier, despite what he was certain would become of them...

Shortly therafter, his aide returned again, a little more flustered than before.

"Captain, the command staff is falling back to the subterranean bunkers, this tower isn't going to last long!" he announced, anunciating the desperation of the situation.

"You're right...alright, get my escort, we're moving out." Pendergrass complied with a sigh, wishing he wasn't forced to do this...

-----------------

The forest was fairly broad, with only sections of concentrated areas of trees, with single plants scattered herabouts around the old path. Kazen's Lupus rolled forward between two close ridges, followed closely by the two lighter Monroes. Eventually coming to a halt, the vehicles sat at a lower point than much of the area.

"Alright, all systems off. They'll most likely be tracking us by our heat, so we'll wait here..." Kazen quietly instructed, nodding to Secillia, who forwarded the message to their accompanyment.

Gerard stared fixated in the manual periscope situated atop the turret, scanning the upward horizon for any movement. After their vehicles fell silent, time seemed to stand still, the growing anxiety gnawing at everyone's nerves, especially Alen's.

"I hope your idea works, Kazen..." Secillia mused with an obvious hint of uncertainty.

-------------------

"Major Fovoham, our quarry seems to have..vanished from our heat scanners. What do you make of it?" Norwell's voice came over Jelira's command comm.

Thinking about the new development a moment, Jelira had a sudden realization.

"I suspect...they've cut their engines to mask their presence. Do you know where you last spotted their signature?" Jelira inquired.

"Approximately...we'll pass by them, out of range, and attempt to lure them into exposing their location. Norwell out."

With that, her battalion pushed over the rolling landscape of the grove in single file, pushing down the occaisonal tree. The forest seemed completely devoid of life, the inhabitants having no doubt been scared away from the noise of the engines. The only sound to be heard were the roar of engines and the occaisonal, distant explosion from the faraway air battle. Eventually coming up to the last reported location, Nancy shifted her view to the right side, believing them to be there. The landscape sloped downward into a heavily wooded ravine.

"An ideal hiding place..." she mumured to herself, her brow furrowing the longer she gazed at it.

"Gunner, rotate 110 degrees starboard! Aim for that path there, they're probably hiding down in that ravine. Have the others lay suppressing fire there as well." she ordered, with prompt compliance.

"And...fire!"

--------------

Kazen and company were suddenly jarred with an explosion behind them, on the end of the right fork of the road they hid on. Kazen devilishly smirked to himself, everything was falling in place.

"They took the bait! Alen, get us back up and running, quickly! Before they lead their shots up to us! Same for Roland and McGregor!" He barked quickly, getting just slightly agitated with anicipation.

All three vehicles' engines immediately whirred to life, and propelled the three waiting vehicles forward. Just down the road to their right, obscured by trees, they could see that exit being pummeled by repeated blasts of heavy plasma shells that tore dirt skyward, and blew trees aside like sticks in mud, those trees still standing blackening from the severe heat of the blasts alone.

-------------

"Hm..." Nancy contemplated to herself, watching the ensuring carnage with a growing suspicion...

Just as her tank jolted back from the recoil of a shot, she made a 'ceasefire' gesture to her gunner.

"Ron, did you pick up anything suspicious, like moving heat signatures?" she asked her driver.

"No ma'am, all I'm seeing is the blaze we just made..." came the faceless reply.

This all was starting to get on her nerves, something didn't feel right...

Just then, she heard a shocked gasp.

"What? What is it?"

"Right flank! I count, two, no three contacts coming from around the back of the ravine! We've been had!"

Wincing, and snarling to herself, Nancy attempted to regain composure.

"Re-establish our flank to engage them! 5 and 6! Pull back closer to us!" She barked over her headpeice mic.

Just emerging from behind the trees, a Cornerian Lupus emerged upon the hill, it's turret faced toward the unprepared right flank of Venomian tanks, followed by two Monroe IFV's.

"Eat this, you chimp-chump!" Gerard whooped gleefully as he stared down his crosshairs, right at the back corner of a Korchaa tank, who's shape was just starting to move, attempting to readjust itself to the unexpected turn of events.

The end of the Lupus' turret glowed a bright iridescant green, then seemed to explode with the plasma energy. The blast shot forward and slammed into the backside of the venomian tank. The shot burned into it's lighter rear armor, and pierced a hole that burned into it's engine. Jostling from the blow, the tank continued to turn for a moment, until it fell silent. Immediately reloading another shot, Gerard was satisfied with his target, and moved on to another target. A second later, the first Monroe to emerge faced the first tank that Kazen's tank had disabled, and fired an HSS rocket at it, the warhead streaking at blinding speed. Slamming into the side of the turret, while it did not actually penetrate it, the ensuing explosion was enough to ensure the tank would never see action again. A second rocket, from the second Monroe found it's way to the next tank over, hitting it's topmost visual equipment just as it was moving to back away from it's attackers.

------------

"Oh my God, it's ho-!"

"My eyes! Somebody hel-"

Shocked and appalled, Jelira could only stare at the display as the clever Katinan defender 'crossed her t' and effectively killed one of her units, leaving her to listen to their death screams. She could only snarl in frustration as the survivors attempted to reposition themselves and fight back.

-----------

"Did somebody order air mail?" came a humored voice over Kazen's headphones.

"Fay!" he exclaimed with jubilant relief.

The poodle's green fighter came swooping down from the horizon, it's guns levelled at the line of tanks before it, and began loosing lances of bright green energy at them. The strafing run initially struck the ground in front of the derelict tank, and began running up, burning holes in the now flaming Korchaa and systematically striking it's cohorts one after the other. While not destroying any, the peppering shots struck in all manner of places, causing miscellaneous damage. As the fighter passed by, it pulled up and away from the dangerous treetops, setting up for another pass.

Continuing to cruise forward, Kazen found his opposition turning to face him, a curiously marked tank near the middle that had taken a beating from Fay's strike, a dark red stripe ran directly down the middle of it's front.

"I'll bet...that's their team leader. Gerard! Aim for that one. Alen! Try and keep us a moving target!"

With only a gulp in reply, Alen complied.

--------------

"Arg...Damn it! Somebody get that stupid Greenie off us! Get those Hurri's on it on the double!" Nancy ordered, having shielded her eyes with an arm, having expected a Nova bomb blast. Then, turning her attention to the attackers, one of the enemy vehicles identified as a 'Monroe' fell under her gun's sights.

"And..fire!"

---------------

Kazen then found his squad under fire, as the heavy tanks and their escort re-aligned to face them, and retaliated.

"Watch it, Roland! They're gunning f-" He was abruptly cut off when, to his horror, the lead tank fired a round with deadly accuracy that slammed into his compatriot's vehicle.

"Oh my G-" came the brief, coldly interrupted transmission. The unfortunate vehicle rocked violently from the force of the blast, large pieces of armor plating peeling off like paint in a fire. Once the bright glow of the initial blast dissipated, the decripit, black flaming hulk of Roland's IFV lie silent.

----------------------

"One down, two to go..." Nancy sternly mused to herself, taking her targeting from the now dismissable wreck. To the side, the Hurricane Mobile AA missle batteries hid themselves in trees, and began reacquiring their target, which was circling around the forest to make another pass.

----------------------

Kazen failed to retain a loud snarl of hate, having witnessed one of his comrades burn to death, and enfuriated at how it started to sink in he'd be lucky he'd get out of this one alive... But, he had one last thing left to do. Priming his mic, he opened a one way channel to his airborne companion.

"Fay, can you read me? If you can...get out, now! Leave us, save yourself! Those Hurricanes will bring you down for sure if you stick around! Sorry your first mission had to be a bust...Don't blame yourself. It's time for us to go. Goodbye..."

Alen hadn't even noticed, and was continuing to attempt to maneuver around the forest, until to everyone's dismay, they came under fire as well. Gerard was nearly knocked from his seat when a plasma shell impacted on their thick side armor. This, however, only strengthened the gunner's resolve.

"If I go down, I'm taking you simian bastards with me!" He growled aloud, focusing on the lead Korchaa with a seething, focused fury. As the targeting computers beeped positive, he punched and held the charge button, building up the plasma shot to maximum levels, until the warning lights starting to blare, threatening an overload. Again, another shot slammed into their hull, but the tank's well formed armor held for the moment, anyway...

_My throat is dry, my hands are trembling so much, I'd probably wind up mashing the keyboard if they were any closer...heh...so this is what it feels like when you know you're going to die..._

Kazen could audibly hear Alen mumbling a prayer.

"Kazen...I...I..." Secillia began, barely choking out her words. He had never seen Gerard flip out like that, but he figured, if he had a heavy plasma cannon and nothing to lose...

"Suck plasma!" with that, Gerard punched the 'Fire' key.

----------------------

Nancy watched as one of the accompanying Vorrens, having seperated the other IFV from the lead Lupus, and was exchanging 30mm rounds with it, leaving the stalwart leader to stand alone.

"Heh, I definately must admire his spirit..." the vixen mused to herself, watching as even despite it's treads having been blown out, it's suspension torn to shreds, and it's armor plating beginning to crack under the pressure, it still refused to capitulate. Then, in a further show of defiance that shocked even her, it's turret turned and aimed directly at her, an ominous bright green glow beginning to glow from the depths of it's barrel.

"Um...Ron...get our front facing that tank, he's going for broke! And keep firing!" she ordered in desperation, remembering her briefing on the Cornerian Lupus tank.

"I'm...trying.." came the strained reply, trying his best to get the machine to comply faster.

The end of the tanks barrel was shortly consumed in a huge aura of bright, swirling energy to the point to where she half expected the thing to self destruct itself, when abruptly, it loosed the shot. The shockwave blew aside the dirt and foliage, the force jostling the incapacitated tank like a giant kick to the side.

"Oh, NOO-" Nancy cried out, shielding herself from the brightness that, for a second, consumed her vision, then, blackness.

------------------------

Jelira stood silently, her mouth agape in shock hearing her friend's panicked cry, be abruptly silenced. Where her tank once stood, a bright green blast that subsequently was consumed in a sheet of flame stood in it's place.

"Nancy! Nancy!! Come in Norwell! Come in, dammit!" she screamed, pounding her hand on the 'Hail' button over and over again, only to receive the same, lifeless crackling static.

Jelira felt herself slump against the console, feeling her forehead bump on the cold plasteel, enraged tears starting to well in her eyes.

"Rgck...Agck..." was all she could manage, feeling her stomach twist into knots that would confound a sailor. She hadn't felt so...so...vexed for years. Then, with more determined fury than she had felt before, she made a call to all units in her command.

"All units! I want that bastard DEAD! NOW." she yelled, unable to restrain yet another fist pounding on the console.

"He'll pay dearly...!" she swore under her breath, clicking off the comm. She could not peel her eyes off of the now smoking crater... There had gone her only friend. Up in a cloud of fire and smoke. Even though they had just met...finding such a sympathetic heart in the Venomian army was, in no modest terms, next to impossible. And here this Katinan had gone and snuffed her out.

_Why....Why?! Why couldn't it have been that stupid ape?! Why did it have to be her? Sure, they're fighting for their lives as well, but...but...damn them all!_

Slumping against her chair, the Major could only hold her head up as her mind whirled with the events that had just transpired, attempting to get a grasp of things.

--------------------

Fay was just lining up another strafing run, when suddenly, her ears overheard Kazen's last message.

"Goodbye..."

A cold chill ran down her spine, especially when soon therafter, she spotted a bright explosive flash in her target zone.

"K...Kazen..? What...no, you can't! I'm coming! Hold on! Don't quit! Don't give up! Please!" she pleaded, already feeling tears well up in her eyes and she punched the throttle.

"Damn you, Andross...!" She snarled, pouring as much laser fire as she could onto the Venomian column, again unsure of wether or not she hit anything, but she could swear she saw more series of flashes behind her. Just then, her alarm blared again, sure enough, a Hurricane or two had gotten a lock on her, and had launched at least 2 missles at her, which had gotten a bead on her, and were in hot pursuit.

"It looks like...I'm alone...again..." she sobbed, faced with only one other choice. Fingering the 'Eject' button, she leaned her head down, not only to brace for the shock, but out of mourning. With that, she punched the button.

The canopy abruptly blew open, and small jets on the underside of her seat fired, launching her up out of the cockpit and into the sky. She could hardly hear the missle's impact over the seat's boosters, but the fiery explosion beneath her told her all she needed to know. Shortly therafter, she felt the seat's engines fall away, and a paraglider chute deploy, breaking her descent, and sending the now safe pilot on a slow, gradual course. She had been at least a thousand feet in the air after pulling up from her strafing run, giving her plenty of airtime to coast to a safe distance where she would hopefully be picked up by friendly forces.

_But...why must I survive, and Kazen and his friends fry in a metal coffin? If only...If only..._

Regardless, she drifted on, only the distant rumblings of explosions and gunfire far behind her to offer return.

---------------------

Gerard let out a loud whoop of victory, as he watched the leader tank take the huge charged shot head on. The larger-than-normal shot seemed to drill through the tank's armor plating, and rip it apart from the inside out. Kazen couldn't help but feel just a taste of satisfaction, as well..

"Kazen, it's been...very nice knowing you..." Secillia said just barely loud enough for him to hear, and although he couldn't see her, she smiled warmly to him, with but one regret. Watching the surrounding tanks, awaiting the inevitable, Kazen saw a plasma round fly straight to him, the visor becoming consumed in the all consuming aura. He could only smirk in reply, then everything went black.

--------------------


	4. Chapter 4: Aldebaran

The Star Fox universe, Emperor Andross, Bill Grey, Fay Dawn, General Pepper, and many of the technologies used/described here are © Nintendo

Kazen Dornel, Gerard Hartford, Secillia Merrix, Alen Geale, Jelira Fovoham, General Redric and other custom made characters are property of Eric Luck I would be flattered if one were to use them in an art/writing piece, but I would appreciate notification beforehand. Thank you.

Due to combat, death throes, and various other war related content, this chapter is rated R

Author's Note: In the game Starfox 64, one was capable of single-handedly obliterating entire fleets. For creative purposes, the weapons such as the Arwing and Landmaster have been severely reduced to a far more realistic level.

Because being able to rack up in excess of 200 kills in one mission makes for a good video game, but not a good novel.

A big thanks goes to various music soundtracks for providing ideas and inspiration for this piece, especially Skies of Arcadia. I may compile a list of tunes that go with different scenes someday. Thanks also goes to my friends who supported and provided feedback while this was in the works, and to the numerous Starfox fanfic writers already out there for also providing inspiration.

This story is only to be distributed under my permission only. Questions/comments/complaints? Hurl them to me at 

The Threshold of Strife

Chapter Four - Aldebaran

By Eric Luck

Author's Note: For reference, I picture the parade grounds of Aldebaran base to resemble the base seen in Star Fox: Assault previews.

"Hahah, so she has finally witnessed war for what it is. What will you do now...." - Field Marshall Edwin Visner, witnessing Jelira's outburst during combat.

Ashlea squeezed her eyes shut in surprise, clasping her weapon close to herself. Every time an artillery barrage, or tank shell screamed overhead with an otherwordly howl, the entire APC shook from the concussion vibration, shortly followed by the ever closing rumble of the impact.

Already, she could hear the distant chaos of combat, accentuated by bright flashes that'd shine through the vehicle's thin viewports. Praying she wouldn't regret doing so, Ashlea peered out one of the ports into the outside world.

The sun was just reaching it's apex in the sky, but already a red, smokey haze consumed the skyline of their eventual destination. All around them other vehicles were speeding across terrain, brushing aside small vegatation. On the other side were the immense looming shapes of the motherships, which continued to deploy combat craft from their bowels in unending streams.

Suddenly, some manner of Cornerian fighter craft, she couldn't readily identify it from this distance, swooped down upon the rapidly advancing armor column, attempting to make a strafing run on the seemingly hapless attackers. Just as it was coming within range, however, a Hurricane's missle shot up to meet it and collided with the fighter with deadily precision, consuming the craft in a fireball as it spun lifelessly overheard, it's sputtering engines briefly overtook the rest of the surrounding noise. Ashlea and the rest of the company reactively shielded their ears from the overpowering cacophany, which abruptly was cut off with a resounding explosion off to the other side.

_And this has only just begun..._

"Alright, men! It's time to lock and load!" the sergeant suddenly bellowed, jarring Ashlea from her observation, prompting her to immediately take her seat.

"We're coming up on the LZ, and it's going to be hotter than your momma's apple pie!"

She simply checked to ensure her weapon was loaded and ready to fire. Then patted herself down, ensuring her sidearm was close at hand, as were her fragmentation and smoke grenades. Her comrades followed suit, either ignoring, or not amused by the condor's attempt at humor.

"Keep your friends close, remember your training, and you just might survive. I'll leave individual squad leaders to their groups from here on in." he continued, picking up and loading his own SMG.

"Now, listen up Dover Company." one of her comrades, a lieutenant shouted over the roar of the engine, and the rumble of the war outside.

"I'll be your squad leader for this little sojourn, the name's Franz, but you'll call me 'sir'." the iguana instructed.

"Follow my lead, and Benson? They'll probably still have at least one armored unit there, so I want you on alert in case we encounter anything."

A badger with a double barreled rocket launcher standing between his legs nodded in acknowledgement.

"The rest of you, announce any contacts you see, I don't wan-"

Suddenly Franz's monologue was interrupted by an impact to the side of the vehicle, thrusting the APC onto the side and tossing it's now paniced occupants about. The last thing Ashlea remembered before blacking out was feeling a sharp pain in the back of her head hitting a wall. She didn't even have time to fear for her life.

---------------

"Sir! Sir! It's not safe here!"

Captain Pendergress lowered his head against the console, he could feel the tremors vibrating through his hands with each impact. The scene all around him was grim, the base's parade grounds was littered with impact craters, corpses of fallen soldiers were scattered hereabout after failed attempts to flee incoming artillery. Others had managed to man various emplacements, and were returning AA fire, and lobbing mortar shells at the oncoming armor columns. Yet, he knew that this would, at the very best, only delay the inevitable...

"Yes, I know...What's the status on Vega base?" the hyena asked forebodingly, almost wishing he hadn't.

"Well sir, we...haven't had any radio communication ever since...they came under attack from bombers..." the chinchilla said nervously.

"...And Sirius?"

"The same."

"Alright..." Pendergrass said woefully, taking the microphone into paw, and activating it with a clearing of his throat.

"Attention all staff. Attention all staff. This is Captain Doreguard Pendergrass, speaking." he began, doing his best to talk over the periodic explosions. "I am issuing Protocol 25, that means every remaining officer of rank in this sector is to fall back to tertiary defensive positions to maintain defense of the base. If it comes to it, be prepared to evacuate. In that event, I want what fuel, weapons and munitions we can't take with us destroyed. Good luck, and Godspeed."

With that, he dropped the mic onto the console, feeling another tremor from an artillery shell shake the control tower.

"Alright, lead the way, sergeant."

---------------------

"...ry one alright?!"

Ashlea's vision began slowly clearing, although all she could see was a dark blue steel wall consuming her vision.

"Lundra! Get your tail up, now!" the voice shouted, accompanied by a prompting shove to her backside. Still waking up from her sudden bout of unconsciousness, she could barely muster the energy to pick her equipment-laden body up from the APC's wall. It wasn't long before the outside noise began registering itself. The high-pitched whine of heavy laser fire filled the air all around her, accompanied with ballistic small-arms zinging about like maniacal insects.

Finally propping herself up, she immediately felt her lungs wretch and force several coughs from the acrid, smokey air that'd permeated the inside of the vehicle. Already her comrades were pulling themselves out of an opened hatch skyward, and hastily tumbling out of sight. Immediately, she scrambled after them, nestling her weapon in the crook of her arm. Upon pulling herself out of the hatch, she couldn't help but gaze at the scene for a moment.

All around, Venomian and Macbethan vehicles were cruising along the grasses, dispatching any outer defenses with ear splitting plasma rounds. It wasn't long before another artillery salvo roared overhead, and impacted on the base nearby. She just then noticed how their APC had been overturned. Apparently, some manner of mortar shell scored a direct hit on them, and while the armor had held, the force of the impact and blast toppled it. It took her less than a second to register just how lucky they all were. The feeling of her own mortality sinking in with that realization sent soul-rending chills up her spine that froze her on the spot. Just then, the artillery barrage hit.

The shock of the impacts alone knocked her off balance, and sent her tumbling off the side, and into the dirt below. But somehow, once she lifted her face from the soil and looked up to her comrades they...seemed distant. She could hear their shouts, and motions to move forward, but they sounded so far away...

_What am I...doing here...?_

Then it was as though some celestial being had switched reality back on, and the shouts, commands, and seemingly time itself sped up again.

"..ake up, Lundra, on your feet!" the lieutant who identifed himself as 'Franz' demanded. Promptly scurrying to accompany him and the rest of the men taking cover behind the thicket.

Once she'd plopped down beside another Private, the lieutenant continued.

"Alright, our first order of buisness, is to breach this outer wall. Botolph! We're going to need your demolitions to blow a hole in it. But first, you, Montague, scout that outer wall to see if they have any snipers or MG's set up anywhere around here. The rest of you, cover him. Let's go, let's go!"

With that, the skunk fur he had designated as spotter crawled his way through the brush, clearing a path which one by one, the others followed. After a moment, his voice piped up.

"Sir! I've found a clearing here." he announced.

"Right, hold position. Lundra! Make yourself useful, back him up and be prepared to take out anything he points out." the lieutenant ordered.

With a sigh of only compulsory compliance, Ashlea crawled ahead of her comrades, edging a couple inches at a time until she came upon a clearing in the thickest of the brush. Tall grass still concealed them, yet she could clearly see the impressive wall that formed the outside of the base. Some segments of the wall had impact craters in them from the reletless pounding they had recieved from Venomian artillery. Some of the lighter top segments had already crumbled, leaving small piles of concrete and steel rubble. But what was now catching her attention where what appeared to be guard towers, lining the perimeter. Most of them had been blown apart by, and were still under fire from, the enroaching armor.

"Alright, keep low, I'm going to see if any more are up..." Montague stated, making a 'down' motion with his right hand, pulling up his Binocs. Settling herself down as flat as possible, she simply kept her gaze forward, afraid to make a move for fear of being located by some unseen foe.

Silently her compatriot scanned the uppermost level, examining each guard tower and emplacement for signs of life. After what seemed like an eternity to her, he finally settled on one spot, zooming in the lens and staring intently at one spot in particular near a corner. Further down, less than 100 yards from their position, Ashlea too spotted a partially intact guard post, that could still shelter an occupant. It presented a line of fire that would potentially threaten any movement on their part.

"Alright...up there, I'm seeing one manning that wrecked outpost there. With that scoped rifle of yours, you should be able to pick him off. He's the only one, so once he's down we're in the clear." He pointed out, starting to move to make room for her.

Ashlea gulped with dread. This would be the first time in her life she had _ever_ been instructed to kill someone. Video games were one thing, the life of someone she had never met and, under other circumstances could possibly have gotten along with, was another matter entirely. But, she had a job to do.

Ashlea's standard issue V-13 heavy assault rifle was indeed scoped, while it was not intended for a solely sniper role, it could fulfill the role in a pinch, despite it lacking the sheer stopping power of such a weapon.

Switching to semi-automatic mode, she crept forward to where she could get a clearer vantage point without sacrificing too much of her cover. Basic was coming back to her in full swing now, recalling all the long range assault excercises she had been put through, they now all culminated into this moment. Lifting up the stock to her shoulder and peering through the scope, she examined her target.

Indeed, as Montague had pointed out, there was someone up in the shell of the tower, using the seemingly defunct outcropping as cover. Although she couldn't see him as clearly as her scouting compatriot had, having only one magnification setting on her scope. Taking a slow breath to ease her nerves, she settled her crosshairs just above him, accounting for the inevitable drop of the rounds.

_I'm sorry..._

With that, she squeezed the trigger in short bursts. The rifle emitted loud blasts with each shot, a brief series of muzzle flashes piercing the air. While she couldn't see in detail, she saw the figure initially turn to her direction only to be knocked back, and slide down out of view. She waited for what must have been several minutes, her eye glued to the scope, waiting to see if she had really put him down. Silently, she hoped that whatever suffering he endured was brief.

"Good shot, Lundra." Montague quietly congratulated, despite her still staring at the site of her first kill.

"Alright sir, all clear!"

Shortly, the rest of Dover Company crawled back into place with their equipment close by.

"Good work, you two. Alright, now let's get to wall! Move!" The lieutenant insisted, getting to his feet, followed shortly by the others, Benson with his heavy rocket launcher lagging behind. Plastering her back against the thick concrete wall, Ashlea found herself just behind the demolitions expert, who was just now beginning to unload his tools.

"Okay Botolph. How much time are you going to need to set up?" Franz asked, taking stock of the situation.

"Vell suhr, fortunately ve 'ahve picked a thinner bahck area, near zhe secondary hangar. It vill take me a few minutes to drill zhe holes, zhen wire zem up." the accented trooper replied, unloading his heavy pack. The first major item out of the pack was a complex-looking machine that looked and probably functioned like a small jackhammer.

"Roger that. Get to it, soldier." the lieutenant ordered. "Everyone else, cover the man while he works."

Taking up positions around the designated wall to be blasted, each squad member scanned the surrounding area for any defenders that might be onto their operation.

Meanwhile, Franz pulled up his glove and activated his wrist-com unit.

"Dover company reporting. We have arrived at the designated blast zone, over."

For a moment, only silence.

"Marshall Visner recieving. Good work, men. Companies Joker, Spade, and Hawk are also in place. Major Fovoham's forces will be arriving shortly to support you, they encountered some light resistance outside, but nothing they could not handle. Once inside, your orders are to clear the Hangar of any hostiles you'll encounter, and link up with Spade company inside. Over and out."

"Roger that, sir. Dover company out. Now, when this goes off, every Katinan in this half of the base will know we're here, so we're going to need Major Fovoham's armor here pronto to spearhead our insertion. And...well, speak of the devil."

Just as the iguana was finishing his briefing, a pair of Korchaa tanks burst out of the foliage they had taken cover in earlier, accompanied by several other IFV's.

-----------

"Okay, Visner, my men are in position. I hope yours know what they're doing." Jelira sternly stated into her communique to her compatriot.

"But of course, Major. I would ask you the same question." Visner sneered.

Ignoring his remark, Jelira readjusted her attention to the battlefield display. All outside patrols had been crushed, and she could see what few Green fighters remaining turning tail and falling back.

_At least...her sacrifice was not in vain..._

----------

"Alright Botolph, get to it!"

Over the sound of near constant gunfire and shelling, one could barely hear the noise of the drilling, which given the anxiety of the situation seemed to take forever. When he was done, Botolph had rigged 6 holes in a hexagonal pattern.

"Alright people, get back!" Franz shouted, starting to motion everyone else away from the blast zone as Botolph was fixing up a wire trigger.

Ashlea joined the rest of them in bolting at least 30 feet from where they had been, quickly throwing themselves onto the ground. Drawing away a lengthy line of wire toward them, the raccoon knelt down in front of them, holding the trigger in hand.

"Fire in ze hole!"

"Fire in the hole!" Franz added, clapping his hands over his eardrums and clenching his eyes shut, the others doing the same.

With that, he punched the button.

The resulting blast was a little bigger than the ones Ashlea remembered during Basic, the resulting tremor was much larger than the quakes caused by the artillery, probably due to her proximity. Even with her ears covered, the resounding roar made her eardrums tremble. Just as the ringing in her ears began to fade, Ashlea took a quick look at the devastation caused.

The explosives had blasted out a hole over 15 feet wide, hurling concrete and steel on both sides of the blast zone.

With that, Franz waved to the waiting armor, signaling them to move forward. Shortly therafter, Ashlea felt other, more distant tremors, most likely other ground teams cracking through other portions of the outer wall.

Following Franz's signal, Major Fovoham's armor trundled down the hill, the lead Korchaa tank beginning to scale the pile of rubble, and penetrate the base's interior.

--------------

Sprinting down stairs, Captain Pendergrass took note of the troops dug in defensive positions. Many were cobbled together from pieces of furniture or sections of fallen wall. Bipod machine guns were mounted atop the makeshift chokepoints, manned by nervous, yet valient defenders.

Suddenly, he was nearly thrown off his feet when a particularly noticable tremor shook the base, followed by at least 2 others of similar magnitude.

"What in bloody hell was that?" he demanded, regaining his footing after nearly taking a tumble down the steps.

Suddenly, as though hearing his question, a computer voice over a staticy PA spoke up.

"Attention, al... eberan defen....eams. Venomian intruders...breached...uter wal.. repeat...all militar...ssonell prepa....or inter....ombat.

"Oh, that's it!" a nerve-wracked soldier exclaimed. "We're screwed! Screwed, man!"

"Shut your pie hole, soldier!" Pendergrass demanded, pointing a gloved finger intently at the offender. "We'll 'old this place if it comes to them sending every man they 'ave! Now, man your post!"

"Sir! We have to keep moving! Secondary comm is just a few floors down!"

"...Yes, of course."

------------------

"Alright, move with the armor! Use them as cover, and watch for any AT infantry they may pull out. Go!" Franz ordered, motioning for the rest of Dover company to follow him, taking cover beside a Korchaa tank. It was plainly obvious they'd stirred up every armed unit in the base the second they went in, almost immediately improvised gun emplacements opened up on the invaders, spraying the initial armored push with streaks of small arms laser fire, with little result. Just as Ashlea was stepping over the peak of the pile of rubble, she noticed one of the guns leading it's tracers toward their entry point and, in a state of near panic scrambled to hide beside a wall extrusion, out of the gun's line of fire. But either Montague hadn't seen it, or assumed the tank was sufficient cover, because just as she slapped her back against a concrete wall directly across from them, she saw lines of fire lance up and strike him in the shoulder.

Crying out in pain, he crumpled off to the side, only to Ashlea's horror, to watch him fall into the open and get hit several times more, until he fell silent in a slowly growing pool of his own blood.

_H...He was wounded! How could they...!_

"Dammit! Montague's down!" came a vague voice over the chaotic noise, probably Franz's.

Just then, the lead Korchaa, perhaps noting the small arms fire surrounding it, turned it's turret up towards an unseen target, Ashlea hoped it was whichever one was shooting up her comrades...

Suddenly, a blast shook her as the tank opened fire, hitting something in the distance. It probably had been the offending machine gunner, seeing as immediately therafter the suppressing fire ceased.

Nervously, Ashlea eased her head over the edge, peering out at the open parade grounds of the enclosed base. Fortunately for her, other invading parties had drawn the attention of the remaining defender units. Hastily, she sprinted out of her hiding spot, and took cover behind a Vorren, which was fanning out to root out any other defending infantry for the heavier tanks. It was then that, from a smaller door opening, she heard voices shouting orders. Keeping with the vehicle, she cautiously sidestepped toward it, and spied a team of Katinan soldiers hastily setting up a series of MRL's (mobile rocket launchers) behind a sheet of reactive armor plating. Realizing that she was the only one aware of this, she hastily sidled along the wall just outside their position. Just then, a single rocket shrieked out from the position she was approaching, and slammed into the Vorren she was just using as cover a minute ago. The impact shook the vehicle, and blew off a section of it's armored plating. Just as she was searching her pockets for a grenade, a second warhead flew with deadly precision, and struck the vehicle a second time, before it's pilots could react. The resulting blast tore the lightly armored vehicle apart, reducing it into a flaming pile of junk. Gritting her teeth in frustration with herself for being unable to stop them sooner, Ashlea's fingers found the spherical object, drew it out and pushed the primer switch. Just as it began emitting a small, high pitched whine, she lobbed the grenade around the corner and scrambled to safety, knowing the blast would draw attention to herself.

"Look ou-!" an unnamed voice cried out, only to be suddenly silenced.

Ashlea didn't see the blast, but felt the thump it caused.

_This is insanity...!_

Taking a moment to regain her breath, Ashlea spotted the rest of Dover company exchanging fire with Katinan soldiers positioned on defensive positions in windows, towers, wherever they could find cover. Many found either a sniper round in their faces, or the very ground on which they stood torn up by a plasma shell. Meanwhile, overhead Venomian fighter craft swarmed, their engines occaisonally overpowering even the chaotic conflict beneath them.

Realizing she'd be easy pickings for a sniper that would look her way, Ashlea quickly made use of the defensive position she'd just cleared out, vaulting over the armor plate, and crouching behind it. There, she was greeted with the result of her handiwork. One of the soldiers, an iguana lay against the far wall, shrapnel having pierced his armor plating and inflicting light cuts on his facial scales. Another soldier lay face down amidst a mess of blood and other substances she didn't care to look further into. She couldn't immediately tell what he was, seeing as a good potion of his torso had been disfigured. Others were beside him, along with their partly destroyed launcher, but she did not care to examine them further, either. Hunkering down as far away from the corpse as possible, Ashlea brought her rifle up to her shoulder, and scanned the immediate area for any other defenders. Many of the walls had holes blasted in them from the tanks, and she could hear many more being made in the background. It was beginning to seem that this sector was clear, for the most part.

Just as Ashlea breathed a sigh of relief, she heard something that sent chills up her spine.

"U...Uggh..."

Immediately turning her head around, she noticed that the iguana soldier was still alive! Wounded, yes. But alive, nonetheless...

Bringing her weapon to bear on him, she leaned against the armor plate and kept it trained on him. For a moment, he simply twitched in place, then slowly brought a gloved hand to his wounded face, and one eye opened. For a moment, he didn't notice her being there, then when he did, he jumped back as best his wounded body would allow, but made no attempt to reach for a weapon.

"D...Don't move. Make one grab for your weapon, and I...will not hesitate to fire." she ordered, doing her best to sound as serious and cooperative as possible. The soldier wordlessly stared back at her, and the weapon pointed at him, slowly putting both hands behind his head. Cautiously she stepped toward him, not deviating her weapon from him for a second. Eventually he found the tip of her rifle mere inches from his nostrils as she began searching him.

---------------

Corporal Jared Isaac had never imagined that he would survive a grenade blast. It was likely due to his being the furthest from it. Still, the force of the blast, and the spread of shrapnel sliced into him like a multitude of small razor blades were pain enough for him to deal with. Even more to his surprise was finding himself under the gun of his attacker...a young canine woman who actually looked to be notably shorter than him. Regardless, he was now at her mercy, whoever she was.

_Andross is already drafting women...?_

It felt strange to be searched by a woman, even if it was the same one that had attempted to kill him earlier. Shortly, she procured his sidearm from his pocket, and tossed it behind her. Part of the strangeness was the fact that, he despised her for what she represented, on the other hand, she did not have the look of one who was on the battlefield willingly, so he couldn't help but pity her, as well. Eventually she deduced that he had nothing else (which he did not) and slowly backed back into her spot, keeping her weapon trained on him.

Then, it struck him. He was the only one to survive the blast. Glancing to the side, his shocked eyes were greeted with the grisly sight of his comrade's corpses. Immediately he could feel his rage boil, and he felt himself snap.

_Aaron! Terrence! She...she killed them! That grenade...!_

------------

Ashlea wasn't quite sure what to do with a POW, the battle was still raging, and doubtlessly there weren't any available officers to enquire with at the moment. So, she elected to wait out the battle with him, it was a better alternative than putting herself in harms way again...

As she was continuing to analyze him, out of simple curiousity, he stared back at her with a steadily growing intent. She knew that look, but had never had it directed her way before. It was a gaze of seething hatred, of one signing a blood oath to seek revenge against their mortal enemy. And it was her. If she didn't have her gun pointed at him, he would doubtlessly waste no time in throttling her.

Basic had prepared her to deal with being under fire, shellshock, first aid, and all of that. But it never touched on how to respond to a furious POW that would like nothing better than to break her neck.

Immediately she felt herself tense up, holding her weapon just a little closer, for what solace it brought. Now she couldn't take her eyes from his piercing stare, for fear that the second she looked away he'd leap on her.

_He...he must hate me for killing his friends...there's no way I can blame him at all...but..._

Then, Ashlea felt an immense wave of remorse sweep over her, and the gut-wrenching feeling that came with the realization of just how much somebody hated her. All this was simply too much for her to take, she had to do something to at least...shed the immense burden of guilt from her shoulders.

"I...I...I'm sorry..." was all she could muster, without even thinking about her words.

"Bullshit!" was his immediate, enraged reply.

She was sharply taken aback by this, frozen on the spot.

"You...you just blew up my...my best friend! If I ever live through this...this hell your precious ape has wrought, I'll have to _try_ and identify his mangled body! And you...you just park your little tush right there, wave your gun in my face and tell me that _you're sorry?!_" He continued, visibly restraining his hands in place.

She could feel her jaw tremble under his accusations, and not just from the force of his shouts. He was right. What right did she have to sit there and simply apologize for it? In his position, she wouldn't have been able to take such empty words, either.

"An..And you went and blew up that Vorren! W..what else was..I supposed to do?" Ashlea attempted to counter, without thinking of where continuing the discussion might lead.

"If you _people_ hadn't come busting down here in the first place, none of this would have happened! What are _we_ supposed to do? Die?"

"I...I don't want to be here! It wasn't my choice...!" Ashlea attempted to reason, unable to deny his logic. It soon got too much for her, all this compounded with all of everything else she'd put up with for her first combat experience...she broke. Leaning her head forward, she felt her face contort with anguish and despair, on the verge of tears.

"Ie...ie..." then, suddenly her vision was obscured by a stark white flash that nearly blinded her. Before she could utter a reply, however...

The sounds of war were fading into the distance, in a bizarre, distorted waver of dischord. Flashes of imagery too fast to identify blurred before her vision, and suddenly...

--------------

The playground sat there amidst grasses and trees, overshadowed by tall skyscrapers, some even penetrating the clouds. Those had always spurred her imagination to impressive flights of fancy when she was young... But, why was she seeing these things?

All around her, vision was slowly coming back to her, the bright white glare fading from her vision.

"..ou alright? ...it...retty hard...shlea? Ashlea?" a faceless voice asked, slowly gaining clarity. She felt herself shake her head about, as though under some other mind's control.

"Owww..." she heard herself complain, in a much smaller voice than she remembered having...

_Where....am I...?_

She could hear sounds in the background but...everything seemed so...distorted and distant, unnamed sounds warped into an echoing drone not unlike that of large marine mammals...But it brought along a soothing sense of comfort and tranquility. But this was upset from the vague, sourceless whispers that suggested small, unintelligible phrases.

Feeling herself looking around, she soon saw a dark blue rubber ball lying beside her. Then, she realized just how sore her face felt...especially her nose.

_What happened...? What's going on...?_

Above the otherworldly sounds that flooded into her ears like a steady audible river, she swore she could hear the sound of...children, laughing joyfully as though in play.

_Is it..._

Then, she felt herself look up, and found a figure much taller than herself looking concernedly over her. But that was the least of her concerns. Suddenly, she was stricken with a realization.

_..M...mother...? What...?_

"Seriously, Ashlea...you should be more careful..." her mother said concernedly, taking her hand.

--------------

Jared had no idea what was going on. One second, he was enraged over what this woman had done to his friends, next thing he knew she simply...zoned out, was the only phrase he could think of. She now stared right past him, as though engrossed in some other, imaginary world.

"What in the...?" he replied with a grunt, now only more frustrated with her. He dared not move, though.

Her grip on her weapon relaxed, and her eyes seemed to roll about in various directions.

_Aw, great...she's having a siezure or something..._

"Please." She suddenly mumbled. "This one!....how much?"

_What in the hell?_

"I don't wanna! You can't make me!" she suddenly cried out.

Then, her hands started to twitch, dropping her weapon on her lap.

_How did she ever make it out of the institution? Into an army, no less? Well...this might just be my lucky opportunity..._

With that, he slowly lifted his hands away from behind his head, lowering them back towards his lap very slowly and cautiously. She gave no indication of even awareness of her to mumble seemingly completely random nonsence. Taking his chances further, Jared slowly edged away from her, still with no reaction. He might have taken her weapon from her, but..he didn't want to risk stirring her from whatever trance she'd fallen into. More he continued to edge, and she never gave any response. Then, he quickly made his way out of the defensive emplacement, and away from his former captor.

------------------------

_Is this...a dream? Am I asleep?_

She was now surrounded by the urban sprawl of what she now recognized was her hometown of Bankershire, Macbeth. But...much of it was different from how she immediately remembered it...it was more like...like...

_At least..5 years ago...that playground...it was torn down when I was...14. I still remember that...but, why am I seeing it now? Am I...dead? People always used to say your life flashed before your eyes when you die..._

She then realized that she was being walked by her mother through town, her left hand held up in another, firm and protective paw. Her legs moved without her willing to do so, like the rest of the experience. It wasn't long before she overheard a street musician's music sounding over the chaos of the citie's activities. He played a strangely sad, almost mournful song on his stringed instrument. The repeated up and down chords that lead around the scale seemed strangely out of place, given the setting. Just as she was pondering the nature of this urban minstrel, his song slowly grew distorted, wavering into the familiar noises that had sounded when this whole vision began...

Suddenly, with a steadily growing, almost ear piercing static noise, her vision was overwhelmed once again with images she could not discern, and the all consuming white glare...

Then, as quickly as it had come, her vision cleared to find herself back where she was, in control of her grown-up body, surrounded by plumes of smoke and fire in the distance. Herhearing was momentarily obscured with the droning noise of...her own heartbeat. It throbbed in her ears, filling her world with the throb of her own pulse. Eventually, it went the way of the audio distortions, and was shortly replaced with the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance. Then she also noticed that, her prisoner had escaped. Apparently during her 'trip'.

Laying her head in her hands, she now felt her mind run rampant with questions. None of which could find logical answers.

_What was that...? Why did that happen...? I...I just want it all to end... somebody save me from this insanity...please.._

Letting her rifle clatter to the ground, Ashlea pulled her legs as close to herself as possible in her combat uniform. In vain she attempted to shut out the pain and confusion all around her, her mind injecting memories of happier, more innocent times.

Suddenly her bout of self pity was interrupted by a stray shell landing close behind her, causing her to instinctively dive onto the ground where her captive once sat. It was a minute before she realized she wasn't in any danger.

_Ugh..! This is making me a nervous wreck..._

Realizing she'd probably be sharply chastised for her absence from the battle, Ashlea pulled herself from the panelled ground and onto her feet. The last thing she needed was to be accused of desertion. With that, she refitted her helmet over her face, picked up her rifle and, as much as her instinct told her to run the other way, made her way back towards the chaos of the battle. Shortly she was greeted an odd, resounding droning noise.

Just as she was wondering what was causing that, she got her answer. The Motherships were sending down Heli-jet transports, accompanied by various gunships, which seemed to be lending air support while the primary fighter wings continued to push the defending airforce back. Several of the vertical take off transports were landing atop the base's rooftops, essentially swarming the now overwhelmed defending force.

_It should only be a matter of time, now..._

Ashlea's bout of relief was then displaced by a realization. Surely the defenders would simply fall back into the interior of the base, where they would have the defensive advantage. This naturally did not sit well with her...

--------------

Kazen felt his conscious overwhelmed by a droning roar that made his ears ache.

_I...I'm alive..?_

He couldn't yet ascertain where he was, he had a devil of a time keeping his mind tethered to consciousness as it stood. Darkness prevailed, but it wasn't long before his senses slowly came back to him. He felt...bathed in an unsettling heat, and slowly he began hearing...crackling and smelt acrid smoke.

_Fire...Fire! I...I am alive!_

The sheer relief of his realization was suddenly replaced with a sense of urgency, especially once he managed to pull his eyes open. He was slumped over a now shattered and unpowered touch control panel. With a strain of effort, Kazen sat up, then took stock of the damage.

The impact had blown a gaping hole in the side of the tank, tearing out a portion of both the chassis and the front of the turret. If the shot had impacted them more directly on the side...Kazen hated to think of what would have happened. As a result, sunlight leaked through the smoldering hole, and small tongues of flame clung to the edges of the largest hole, and larger flames were probably eating away at the external paint. By some stroke of luck, the blast had not caused the engine to outright explode, but rather simply rendered it unable to operate ever again. However...

Then remembering his comrades, Kazen immediately turned to his right, looking to Gerard. His lemur companion was still intact and, after a quick check, still breathing, but still unconscious. Then, looking around and taking stock of the hole's location, a realization dawned on him.

_Secillia was the closest to the impact...!_

"Se...Secillia! C...can you hear me..?" He managed between chokes. Smoke inhalation was making it hard for him to breathe, let alone speak.

There was an unnerving silence.

Ripping off the tattered seatbelt, Kazen was made aware of his own wounds. His right arm wouldn't respond, and pain shrieked from his upper arm whenever he attempted to move it. His face also began to ache with a searing pain that seemed to have described itself, likely being a burn wound from the plasma.

_Ugh..! Probably broke my arm.._

Thinking that a singed face was of little matter, Kazen did his best to unfasten himself with his good arm.

"Geale! Geale!" he cried out. Shortly he heard a moan in reply, which relieved him immensely. But he was still worried about Secillia...he couldn't see her from his position.

Reaching up, Kazen fumbled with the hatch lock, managing to pop it open. With a strain of effort and a twinge of pain from his broken arm, Kazen managed to pull his head out.

The scene around him was horrific, several yards ahead of their tank's wreck was the smoldering remains of one of their Monroes, he couldn't tell which one. There was no way anyone in it could have survived, it was barely recognizable as what it had been, now a blackened, twisted husk. Further down the road, he recognized where the Korchaa tanks were, and their respective wrecks. A massive smoke plume still trailed up from the leader, the memory of it's destruction still fresh in his memory. Then he was made aware of other noises, overhead. At first he had hoped somehow the defensive air forces had held the invaders back, but what glimmer of hope was expunged when he saw their shapes, and realized he didn't recognize their engines.

A squadron of Invader 2's zoomed overhead in attack formation, heading off towards the horizon, and a familiar direction.

_Aldebaran...!_

To his horror, the sound of the explosions, gunfire, and the bright flashes were all coming from his base.

And with the enormous looming shapes of the Motherships cruising forward, any hopes of making it back home were extinguished. Shortly therafter, he saw a shape stumble out of the hole in the side of the chassis. It was Alen.

"Geale!" He called out. "So you are alive!"

After stumbling onto the ground and rolling over onto his back, the ground squirrel yanked his visors off his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Gh...Gck.." He choked at first, holding his throat amidst his coughs. "Y...yeah, I'm alright, sir."

"I'll...get Hartford up, he's still alive...can you see if Merrix is...alright..?" He asked between coughs.

"Y..yessir." With that, he got to his feet, in probably better condition than any of them were, and staggered over to the hole.

Then Kazen settled back into his seat and pushed Gerard with his good arm.

"Hey! Hartford! Get your tail up!" He yelled, giving him another shove.

"U...unn..." he murmured, starting to stir. Lifting his head, Kazen spotted streams of blood about his face.

After pulling himself up, he blinked his eyes a few times and stared absently at Kazen, as though not believing his eyes.

"Are you...Saint Peter?"he asked whimsically.

Even in the light of the situation, Kazen couldn't help but grin.

"No you dork, you're alive."

"Aaah! S...sir! Get down here!" Came Alen's outcry.

_Oh, no..._

"Give me a sec, Geale, my arm is kindof...broken.." Kazen grunted, attempting to pull himself out of the hatch with only one arm.

"Allow me, you crazy man." Gerard said, grabbing his right side and helping him up.

With his help, Kazen managed to crawl out of the hatch and sprawl himself over the top of the defunct turret. Sliding his torso down, Kazen held his busted arm close to him, gritting his teeth to bear the excruciating pain he was in. Once he hit the ground, doing his best to keep from yeowling in pain.

"What is it?" He asked, ambling toward the hole.

It didn't take long for him to notice. Secillia had been the closest to the point of impact, the shell burrowed behind her seat, which probably was what saved her life. The shark was slumped over her panel, her clothes had tongues of flame on them which Alen was hastily patting to put out, with Kazen shortly aiding as best he could with one hand.

"Holy hell! Put her out!" he screamed, not even noticing the burn pains in his hand as he patted his comrade down. Once that was done, Kazen immediately set two fingers on her neck, feeling for a pulse.

It was still there, but irregular and slower than normal. He also noticed that, what parts of her skin weren't clothed were covered in unnaturally dark burns, and her garments had been blackened to a smooth crisp..

"Oh, god...watch her clothes! She's got third degree burns!" Kazen shouted, turning to Alen. Just as he finished, Gerard hopped down onto the ground from atop the turret.

"Oh, no..!" Gerard exclaimed, spotting her form.

"Hartford! Geale! Help me get her out of there!"

"Are you nuts, Kazen? Not with that arm of yours! Here, Alen, get her legs, I've got her torso." Gerard proclaimed aloud, ushering his friend aside. Begrudgingly, Kazen obliged.

With that, Gerard wrapped his arms around Secillia's torso, and Alen held up her legs.

"Alright, ready? On 3, lift!" Gerard ordered. "1...2...3!"

With that, the two of them hefted the shark woman up out of her seat. Even this did not stir her.

Just as the two were setting her down on the ground, Kazen heard a sound he wished he'd never hear in this situation. Suddenly, what must have been a motorized patrol group started to approach, judging from the sound of engines pulling through the forest path that the invading task force had forged.

"Ah, shit..." Kazen cursed under his breath.

Meanwhile, he turned his attention to Secillia, who was slowly beginning to stir.

"Damn...she's going to need a medic, and soon...she's bleeding all about her legs and arms, and she'll need some epidermal regeneration, judging by how...burnt she is." Gerard assessed with a very worried tone.

"Well...I guess it wouldn't be too far fetched to say that, 'help', is on the way..." Kazen mused with a degree of disdain.

"Wha- Oh...man..." Gerard mused, snarling to himself, hearing the engines as well. It wasn't long before they heard footfalls, too.

"Well, it's our only choice...we can't help Secillia here, let's just hope these...people can." Kazen added with a pause.

Alen knelt beside Secillia, clenching his fist and visibly trembling, disliking the notion of surrendering to Andross whole heartedly, but faced with little other choice. It wasn't long before the green armored uniforms of Venomian troops came into view, and when one spotted them, there was immediately a hustle in their direction.

Immediately, Kazen leaned against the side of the wrecked Lupus, and put his good hand behind his head in proper fashion, keeping his other arm in place as best he could. Hoping they wouldn't force him to put that one up, as well...

The other two immediately followed suit, hoping this would be over with soon.

As the lines of soldiers approached, they were followed by a line of APC's, on which even more rode, and who knew how many were inside.

_My god...and we've only seen the tip of the iceberg._

Kazen had seen imagery from correspondants on Macbeth of what Venomian soldiers looked like, but never up close and in person like this. He couldn't readily distinguish their faces, their combination helmet and faceplate gave them an alien appearance. Primarily an olive green with steel trim, their suits were rather armor-like, but seemed light enough to not impede their movement at all. On broad shoulderpads were emblazoned some manner of elaborate design of a gloved fist before a 4 pointed star. They viewed their world behind red eye visors, giving them an almost...demonic appearance. As one got closer to them, he noticed how he seemed to lack a muzzle.

_Simian, more than likely...I might be wrong, but I'm willing to venture a guess that this must be one of those 'Elite' squads we heard so much about..._

"You!" The leader barked with a distorted tone, probably from his face mask. "Hands up!" His comrades joined him with many a clank of armored feet, that came a to a halt, surrounding them and the wrecked tank.

Seeing as he was aiming those sinister eyes at him, and shoving his heavy rifle in his direction, Kazen could only assume he was addressing him.

"I cannot very well do that when this one is _broken._" he calmly retorted.

"And she needs immediate medical attention!" Alen added, doing his best to keep his voice from wavering.

"Be silent!" One of the others yelled at him, otherwise ignoring his request.

"Alright, you, put Binds on this one." The leader ordered, motioning to the fellow that just spoke, and pointing to Kazen. Immediately he marched up and produced what looked like a linked pair of small hoops. Forcibly, he yanked Kazen's good arm in front of him and bound it to his broken one. Not seeming to care much for his wounded state with the rough manner in which he did so, incurring even more pain from his fracture.

Kazen did his best to stifle a yelp of pain, not wanting to give the Venomian that satisfaction.

"You, take that one and put it in unit C5. The rest of you, on your feet!" The leader continued to order, and with that, his comrades dispersed and grabbed Alen and Gerard by the scruffs of their necks and pushed them onward, one of them pulling up a still unconscious Secillia and draping her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Kazen's captor also followed suit and pushing him forward with kick to his posterior. Kazen simply stared straight ahead at the waiting armored vehicle, finding himself behind the trooper carrying Secillia.

_I'm sorry, Seece...Just consider yourself lucky you weren't awake to have to put up with this..._


End file.
